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Alright, time to reply again. Since I first posted this thread, it looks like someone else came with a similar topic on r/touhou, which I will use in this comment as parts of it might be useful. So let's start... So you basically say that if a Christian got spirited away to Gensokyo, it would be more advantageous for them to remain in the Christian faith? The odd part is given by the fact it seems like the Village is made out of just Shinto, Buddhist and Taoist believers, while a new, monotheistic religion like Christianity, Judaism or Islam would be seen as strange. There are barely any believers in Gensokyo (despite in the outside world those being the most spread religions of the world), you may not have a shrine or any other place where to conduct your religious practices (though Christian hermits of the past did not need an entire church, but a simple cave was enough to live in), and the history of Christianity of Japanese land is a little complicated. Knowing Gensokyo was sealed in the 1880s, it would be just a little over 250 years since Christianity was initially outlawed in Japan and persecutions took place. And since the villagers might still be living at the level of the late 1800s, they might either be completely ignorant of this weird, monotheistic religion, or still remember it as "that religion that used tp be outlawed and persecuted long ago". Also yeah, old days of the Touhou universe, especially before the creation of Gensokyo, really do seem to have that Dar Souls vibe to them. This might be funny to see. Do we actually have any Christian in Gensokyo? Besides the theorized connection of Yumemi with that faith ad the symbolism related to the cross. Also in Wild and Horned Hermit, Kasen did mention Christianity, more exactly the story behind Easter and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here is the fragment: (from WaHH Chapter 44, page 12) Though I guess there should not so much trouble for a Christian to integrate, as the religion would be seen as exotic by the Japanese, I guess. Here's the thing, and why I guess Gensokyo does not look so dark at a first glance. We tend to see the stories from the perspectiv of the protagonists and other relevant characters, who are already part of the higher strata of society. We basically see the events from the point of view of shrine maiden who is already quite connected to what is happening, her magician friend, a number of youkai (who are already basically the ruling class of Gensokyo) and so on. Basically, it would be as if, in our real world, we would have a view of the world written from the perspective of the aristocracy/the rich - the world is a nice place, without struggle, and not really so dark. In the case of Gensokyo, I guess we are missing the point of view of the lower society strata, and especially that of the humans who live in that land? Because we basically already see the story through the eyes of the youkai, the "special ones". From here, I will start using some of the quotes and replies from the thread I have been talking about at the beginning. Sample 1: If in this part you were talking about the Taiping Rebellion, that sure was quite an interesting chapter in Chinese history. One of the biggest civil wars to take place (and one of the bloodiest conflict in human history), and all of this coming from the result of the Opium Wars + 1 dude who thought himself to be the brother of Christ. Since the Chinese more than likely were not familiar with Christianity, they might have taken it for real, though I would also imagine that the stagnation and problems of the late Qing era society contributed to the turmoil and later violence (for almost 100 years afterwards China has been quite a mess...). I knew that the male Tanuki were the ones with such a massive "gift". It took me very long to learn there apparently exist female Tanuki too, and Mamizou would be one of those (so no balls in here). But interesting to know shape-shifting is basically a basic ability for a youkai. And Touhou has shown it quite well. Speaking of shifting things in this series, I have two more quotes: Now that I look at it, Touhou really does look like extreme sugar-coating in terms of "what this is supposed to be vs how it is depicted in the media". Which is very easy to lead into the creation of a false perception in regards to how things work and what this is supposed to be. If only we could be more aware of this part... Generally, unless you know the backstories of the characters, it is very easy to fall into the trap of "this is just another anime thing with cute anime girls". Their physical appearance does not help at all. Heck, you cannot even classify them as "monster-girls" as some do simply because there is no visible monster element. Either the 2hus have become masters of disguise, or they have been so tamed by the creation of Gensokyo they have lost their savage side, only appearances and reputation still keeping them alive. Or maybe it is somewhere in the middle. Anyway, fanon really seems to be swinging into the direction of turning it into a cute, wholesome., light-hearted advanture-filled story where only the main characters exist or are relevant (therefore myths like "there are no men in Gensokyo", "everything is nice for everyone in there" and so on). Bonus quote: If only we had more sources of explaining the lore, characters and setting, just to make it clear for people what is the general idea of Touhou and not just act like a herd of horny weebs going into Touhou as if it was not just an anime with cute girls. Oh wait, do we have any channel going into hard lore or essay video formats on the theme? [sarcasm galore] That would make for an interesting story. What would happen if the people of Gensokyo, basically the last bastion for a lot of Youkai, lost their faith in those mythical creatures. Would they just vanish? Would they adapt to the modern world and convert into something modern people believe in? I might be wrong here or cannot remember it correctly, but I think it was Kanako who said she would convert herself into a goddess of science and progress just because people nowadays believe in the power of science, and that would bring her more faith. I would actually read such a story. I know the Human Villagers are aware of "outsiders", but I really wonder how aware they actually are about the outside world itself and how it is. They basically live in medieval/pre-industrial conditions, when life and the concept of "world" for many did not span too much outside their village and community. It reminds me of what i was reading here in Romania about the beginning of the modern age, when most of the people were living in small rural communities. For them, the village was basically most of their life, and found it hard at the beginning to understand how big the world actually is, together with its technology. This example might be from historical fiction, but the story "Hanul Ancuței" by Mihail Sadoveanu has a story about a Moldavian shepherd at the middle of the 19th century travelling to what would be Germany nowadays to sell his sheep. Those he was telling the story of his journey to could not believe him about travelling by train ("that chariots pulled on iron by an invisible horse of fire") or could not comprehends the customs of the Germans, saying they prefer the peaceful life of their small community. I am not very sure about the existence of a European Dragon. If it for anything, Meiling would be more likely connected to the Chinese breed of dragons. However, we do have a Greek goddess in Gensokyo (Hecatia Lapislazuli, modelled after the ancient goddess Hecate). Also not sure of confirmed or just fanon, the Greek god Apollo appeared too, the more as a mention of being one of the suns killed by Chang'e's husband. It would be funny though to the see the bunch of Mount Olympus though gathering at some point in Gensokyo, together with the Mexican god you were talking about and whatever entity a Christian could spawn with enough faith. I remember seeing that video at the beginning of 2021. It was quite an interesting travel video, and made me want to go visit Shimo-Suwa at one point in my life if I ever get the chance. Well, one more excuse to go in a visit to Japan, I guess... I wonder how much we have deviated from the content with which I started the thread, but this is becoming interesting in itself too.

Time for a follow up question, what will happen? After the yokai and gods can't gather anymore faith? Does that lead to the downfall of Gensokyo? Will the yokai once again visit the human world or hell? Either way, this is not going to end well for them as getting less faith mean the disappearance of gods and yokai hence leading to only myths for the children story book. But consider this, what if the yokai that faded away reincarnate as a human in the outside world, will this make the fantasy land actually fantasy? Or how would they gain the balance back in Gensokyo? As of now, I only have 2 ideas: 1. If they were once again human, there would be a gap in Gensokyo place which makes it fading place like the former hell. The tone will change slowly as there would be only so much yokai left in Gensokyo. All and all, that would be interesting to be developed in theory; Meanwhile, the human that die are replaced with yokai but only evils ones as there might be yet another war between the two factions. So, what do you think about that? 2. The Hakurei Barrier allow the yokai to dip in and out since there're less faith for the god. Human to Yokai ratio is very much in a difference so, yokai disguised themselves as humans and breed on the humans to get the yokai population going (Pardon, as this is a brainstorm of mine) That way, they keep in balance with Gensokyo while they can also choose to gain faith from the outside world. Now then, another question: What is the future of Gensokyo when they're more village folks than yokais? Will they get eaten? (Not likely, since there's the seal) Or get warned by the fellow denizens of Gensokyo, will they be cast away form Gensokyo? Well, what if the humans simply leave Gensokyo and go on with their journey? That will surely touch the atmosphere around the land. We need to think harder, to what actually happen in the ancient periods of Japan, why and how did the yokai find out about Gensokyo, the land of fantasy and choose to live there? I want to add a bit of on my previous post, maybe the uproar of Gensokyo breached to the western side of myths and attracted those there to here. And usually, those ancients fight each other and agree on terms as there're quite a handful of Western ones here in Gensokyo: Vampires, Hog-goblins, Western Dragons? (Not sure on the last one) as this might change the overall Japanese yet harsh tone of earlier Gensokyo in Foundation. (Aye, I don't know if my words makes sense at all since that's something that I came up while watching Yakuza Isshin)

Here's my desktop.

Hey, I was actually looking for that image. meanwhile, this is mine:

EZ stole his bouncy yoyo hook method and pasted to my ware now bobikhooking all the functions.