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I believe so, it's more advantageous for them to remain in their beliefs, taking reference from my religion. As you said, it might seems strange for the residents of Gensokyo exposed to Islam and Judaism; It would be out of place but it works for them. Another thing, to channel the act of your religious practice, you first need a place, caves, forests and some other shelter. (You see this place has everything to create a new god via faith) Hmm... I wonder what will happened when Greek gods and various ancient ones finally sets in the world of Touhou spreading new religions and creating a lot of plot points. (There're some here already) (Unrelated: It would be funny to see an European Legendary creature (Ship) arrives in Gensokyo mid Ashikaga (Muromachi) Period introducing Jesus and Christianity. And Dutch joins the party after Gensokyo was sakoku) But aye, it does feel like it. The Pc-98 Touhou era was very good and those yin yang balls has the same purpose as Humanities (S rank lore attached to an item) Wow, I'm falling behind the discussion ah, you got me fired up so, I'll read the manga some time later. It's very refreshing to see points and yeah, I imagine it would be easier for Christian to integrate. That's is indeed true. It would be very interesting to the lower society perspective with Zun publishing prints works and albums. All right, we'll see it when the time comes. Spot on good sir! Finally, I've met a lad who knows what I'm talking about. History saves the day, Qing dynasty is the best one to study, at least for me even though most of their demise is often caused by internal chaos. (Possible Touhou character inspired from this event?) Quite so, I first thought that female Tanuki were also given massive "gift" but yeah, maybe it was because common sense is missing in land of Gensokyo. There're a lot of unique abilities for youkias, it would be none the wiser for us to decide who is the "strongest" in term of spell cards as we haven't seen a lot of their skills. I.E Oni can do shadow teleportation. (Wait, Sukia already has that in the form of mist; you get the point) (Well, that's Touhou for you being created by a tipsy japanese man) anon doesn't really help in that regards. This is quite confusing for newcomers as there're no clear appearance to determine Touhous as moster girls or yokais. (Fancy Pants!, and hats did not make things easier either) I'm fond of your point especially the one that is in the middle. Also, fanon does two things: They either make Touhou too edgy and grim dark with shadow covering eyes or it's a very nice place and there're no male human aside from you Isaeki harem looking protag who gender is mostly male. Now that reminds me of this MMD covering the life of a villager who has gone mad and had broken thee balance and peace of Gensokyo. Either ways, If you want to make a thread about "Diamond in the rough" and "this" or just simply I'll sent my regards in massage. This does show some "accurate" depiction of Gensokyo showing what will happen when a vilager breaks the balance of Gensokyo. But it rasied me a question: Are they going to get exiled or executed depending on their action or just straight up be a slave for yokai? One of the reasons that the info in Touhou is vague is because Zun let fans to create their own theories and stories. There is or rather was a reddit post that had caught my attention a few months ago explaining "Zun Psychology" discussing about why he decided to keep the lore and character vague" (The thread might be nuked by those ungrateful "Redditors" whom has reported as "non Touhou content" (even if it's covering its creator and characters) It's very interesting to think about, are there gonna be spellcard rule or what will happen to the future of our beloved gods. One way is that one will witness those yokai even if they lost faith for 'em. Just like hell, but here is the problem. People not believing those thing existent automatically get a get out of jail card? Or it's the other way around? Ho, It would be amusing to read such a story about Kanako becoming the goddness of science. (Let's hope there's no fan-made mecha anime although, I would enjoy it.) Aye, I feel the same way about 'em being born in a town and experiencing arcade in another city of my country, Yangon (Rangoon) It was fun and I had my first chicken nugget in another city. (Mawlamyine) So yeah, I felt like a Moldavian shepherd never seeing a roller-coaster. Neither I am, but your point on Meiling is truly correct she would be much closer dragons wait, Sayano's a smoke dragon too. Aye, I do want to see an European Dragon in Gensokyo as it would be truly amazing. So, moving on to greeks, I've heard of that with Apollo appearing and one of suns causing Chang'e's husband death. (Huh? Hon yi is also Junko husband am I right? What? are there two guys named exactly named Hon yi? Another point to add to your thread in OVMJ's reply)Yeah, I'm intruged by your idea of gods (Oh boy, there're gonna a lot of 'em featuring Asian and Western ones) gathering at some spot (Hot spring?) in Gensokyo all and all having a party? You just gave me an idea to draw. One day, we' might even be hanging out on Shimo-Suwa (A dream in a bucket list "Meet A Good Old Friend In your Favorite Spot in Japan Especially One You've Considered a brother" I'm not even joking this's on my bucket list) No worries lad, having a long discussion with you have also deepen my bond with Touhou and I've also gained happiness in return. Aye, this is becoming interesting indeed, pardon me for taking two weeks and a full day to reply Numenor" You're never short on content aren't ya? I'm bloody interested in this stuff. This shall widen my view of Touhou. In return I present you the "history of Japan I guess." (You might already watched this but nonetheless, to refresh our nerdy history minds.) Aye, you have a brilliant point Von, this might be one of the causes of why they look like cute looking girls we adore a great deal. Nothing out of ordinary for the ones in Gensokyo, they had worse such as defending foreign people form moon, let a lose a dull bird of atom and so on.

@Gou the frog you might like this part. Digging a bit through Touhou written stuff, I have found some in-universe explanations for game mechanics and other gimmicks. I wonder if I could find something in regards to the use of Bombs, Lives and Continues, and how are those translated in-universe. I knew I read somehwere about the matter, but I cannot find the source anymore. How the "Spellcard Rules" work - oh wait, was I right in saying the creation of the barrier tamed them and turned them from the abominable monsters of old into the cute looking girls we like so much What an incident is

This actually raised me a question. My guess is that in Gensokyo those who are spirited away are usually Japanese/Shinto believers I would assume. I am making such an assumption based on the focus of Touhou being predominantly on the area of Japan, with references to China and Korea. Any other parts of the world seem to be only briefly brought in, mostly as references (Hecatia is a bit of an exception, being probably the only character inspired by a religious entity from the Western world, more exactly the goddess Hekate of the ancient Greeks). Here comes the question: what does happen if someone from outside the Shinto/East-Asian world is brought into Gensokyo? More on that a little later. As for the humans that are sent there, here is an interesting part from the "Humans" article of the wiki, particularly the "Outsiders" subchapter: From this fragment, there are some interesting points that can be abstracted. it seems like outsiders entering Gensokyo might also happen by accident, given fluctuations in how strong the Hakurei Barrier is finding "outsiders" in Gensokyo is a rather rare sight, as most of them are either eaten or leave as soon as they get the chance there seems to be a selection of those who end up in Gensokyo - people with little knowledge in technology (so no engineers, scientists, IT programmers etc) just like you have also pointed out, the Villagers are protected under a contract that came to be following the Vampire Incident youkai are hard to distinguish from human beings due to their appearance, and for outsiders only stuff like ghosts seem to be the obvious it is not fully clear if the outsiders, once becoming part of the Village folk, are also protected by the contract, but it is possible there are special cases of outsiders who accommodated to the new world of Gensokyo (but I would personally put it on "because protagonist character" like in the case of Sane & Moriya gang, or how Maribel, Renko and Sumireko have not been eaten by any youkai despite being outsiders) Perfect Memento in Strict Sense actually does have an interesting fragment, especially since it reflects the way inhabitants of Gensokyo might see outside people getting in: Here is the question I have been talking about to be asked later. If you are not a Shinto believer and decide to remain in Gensokyo, how will things work out? Gods cannot get power from your belief if you are a believer of any other religion. Are there people in Gensokyo who are not Shinto believers? I know there are some atheists like Sakuya and Nitori apparently, but there does not seem to be sign of any other religion going on like Christianity or Islam. In a way, it would be interesting if ancient, forgotten religions of Europe and their gods would find a place in Gensokyo. Since the land was created to preserve these beliefs in a world that has gone in the direction of science of progress, therefore starting to stray away from religion, mystical and mythical entities have found a place to live there. And so I was thinking if others have found their place there. Hecatia already got to Gensokyo, wonder if other members of the Greek, Roman or any other ancient pantheon would fins their place. Or maybe Gensokyo was founded too late, and those old religious entities lost their powers/disappeared before having any chance to find their place in Gensokyo. As for the people who get there and are not Shinto, do they end up converting their religion from anything they used to be up to that point once they see gods are actually real and live in the same land as them? Or there is some form of religious toleration for anyone? It would be funny if a Christian got in Gensokyo, and their faith would be strong enough to actually create an entity. (Oh wait, I think I am not confusing it with the power of the Warp and belief in Warhammer 40.000, and the creation of miracles/Living Saints and other Imperial stuff in that universe...) I always like seeing personal interpretations of how things work or ended up getting in the state they are nowadays. Especially when you are given enough creative liberty and the chance to fill in the gaps with your judgement. Also the theory is interesting. I have actually been watching Linfamy for a few years now. I have found him thanks to a video on Heian Japan, and from then on I got extremely curious to learn more about the early history, culture and mythology of Japan. I new literally nothing about East Asia up to that point, and this was a very entertaining way of learning new things. Ah, the flowing of time in Gensokyo. One topic that keeps bugging everyone up since it does not seem to make any sense. I remember Surnist made a very good video on the topic long ago (I really miss him posting stuff - it's been 11 months already without a new video...) As for different artists, it is funny, but also confusing how depending on the artist, characters seem to be getting younger as time goes on. Just look at Youmu and how she is portrayed in any official manga. From her first appearance in PCB, artists who worked on canon material seem to be drawing her younger and younger looking. Or how if you show someone an image of Akyuu, they will not believe you when you say she is 27. They will tell you she looks like being 17 at most due to the way portraits are drawn. It would be interesting to know if the Contract might actually be what ended up in "taming" the youkai, and turning them into the pretty girls we have canonically (or downright attractive/seductive if you go by fanart). And since they could no longer feed on the population of the village, their powers might have diminished as the main source of power has remained in scaring people instead of eating them. Also, perhaps they also became a bit more sociable following this "taming", as even those who are regarded to have the "Worst" relations with humans seem to be only acting if you mistreat them (or destroy their flowers - I mean, didn't Eiki tell Yuuka in PoFV to basically "do your job and scare more humans"?). So maybe this is why they might have ended up looking the way they do nowadays? It could be either this, or I might be falling again into the trap of moe. Short answer would be that perhaps a diminishing in power would have lead to this aspect of theirs, and it is interesting if they are still able to transform into their original youkai form. Rinnosuke is a peculiar case. Besides he is like one of the few named males we know of, he is also a half-youkai. How does this even work? Was one of the parents a human and the other a youkai, is it a duality thing like with half-human-half-phantoms, or an incomplete transformation into a youkai? This is an interesting part. I did not manage to fully understand it though, especially the part of picking the aspect of a young woman. From my limited knowledge of Japanese mythology, I know youkai turning into attractive women was a thing, which I remember was quite common especially with Kitsune (the case of Tamamo no Mae always comes to my mind) and whatever the name of the creature that inspired Yamame is. As for Mamizou, isn't she a shape-shifter? Her ability could be a neat explanation for what is going on, but I am not sure if it limits just to her, or can be applied to any youkai. I was never too shocked by the conflict from Touhou 17. I actually found it rather interesting, especially when you see none of the parts is perfectly clear. it very much reflects real wars in my vision. No side is perfect and has its own fair share of flaws and things that might put dirt on their reputation. The world is not perfect, as we cannot say there are saints and demons among people, just different shades of grey at times. I think you might have a bit of an advantage, as you are from Burma and therefore not so far geographically from the world Touhou revolves around (at least much closer than I am anyway). In a way, it would be basically as if I were talking about the culture, myths and folklore of the Slavs, a people I am relatively used to as a Romanian and which live in the same geographic area. Oh, and having some common elements of culture with them that might have developed in the early stages of the creation of the Romanians as a group of people, somewhere in the 6th-5th century AD. Indeed, reality can be harsh, and in the case of Touhou, I would explain it through an initial exposure to the fanon its greatly altered vision of Gensokyo, followed only very late by actual exploration of canon. Things seem to be going nicely there, at least from the perspective of the protagonists because yeah, protagonists, but things might be completely different when it comes to the life of your average villager (who still lives the same way as his ancestors did 100 years ago). To me, it is not shocking the origins of these characters (I am quite fine with the original versions of tales), it is just that something that from the outside that seems to be about cutesy and wholesome actually starts getting darker and darker the more you get into it, something you would not really expect from what seemed, again, to be all cutesy and wholesome. Sometimes, fanon feels like a completely parallel universe when it comes to this and the tone chosen. Perhaps an initial exposure to canon, only then followed by fanon would have helped quite a lot, especially with a warning at the beginning that "things are not really all bright as they might seem". I guess I may not be fully able to understand the way Gensokyo (and Japanese traditions) works, because what they see as nothing special, and very much part of their culture might be shocking for someone coming from another culture, with a different set of values and things of the kind. Last time the shattering happened, I was not here either. Instead, it all happened through a post on r/touhou, which I can link if you wanna see the reaction back then. As for a new answer on "Would you live in Gensokyo", now that I am in the post-crisis clarity, it would be the following: If I were given the chance, I would still go back home. It might be difficult for me to integrate into a new world based on different customs, traditions and myths, and where I cannot communicate to anyone due to language barriers (unless I get to Suzunaan in the Human Village, since apparently Kosuzu can decipher any language), But if I were to stay, I would have to learn the language, possibly change my religion due to possible incompatibilities with the local system, as well as getting used to the realization gods and monsters are real, and not just a concept as I used to believe in the world I came from. But if I were to overcome these barriers, guess the only thing I could do would be living a simple life in the village, taking up drawing or perhaps writing. All of this if you even make it up to the Human Village to begin with. Here is the thread I have mentioned on m original reaction from last year:

Oh yeah, it is that time of the year again... That part when I start questioning myself why I like Touhou. When I got into this, I did not know too much about the tone and nature of the universe everything is placed in. Due to the light-hearted nature of fanon content. I thought this is actually quite a nice place to live in, without too many worries. However, as I started reading more and more about the nature of the Gensokyo and the way humans are treated, I started to question everything I knew up to that point. Let's just say that if I woke up in Gensokyo one day, I would either just wish to die quickly (since "spirited away" people are free real estate and any youkai can eat them), or if I were able to find the Human Village/Hakurei Shrine out of sheer luck, I would just wish to GTFO as I do not want to become a mere cattle, only used for having my fear harvested by some demonic creatures just to maintain a so-called "status quo". At least this is how I understood things until now. Basically, it turned from a light-hearted land of adventure into basically a dictatorship of the youkai who need the humans as fuel simply for maintaining their own existence. But this might go deeper, exploring the very purpose of why Gensokyo was created and what is the whole purpose of maintaining a status quo. Both questions seem to already have answers, but it is always interesting to analyze more and create theories that could expand on it. Meanwhile, there is also this fragment from the big file I have analyzed recently, trying to bring an explanation to the way things work in Gensokyo: I am not fully sure if this text is accurate or it is just coping, but it sure brings some interesting points that seem to make the situation look less bad than the impression I was left with. As for the "demons" themselves, I have been asking numerous times why do they look like cute young girls. What initially brought me into Touhou was the characters. Out of any possible anime/Japanese game kind of series, this one caught my attention since it felt different. A nice balance between cute and badass, without the general horny element of modern Japanese media. Besides a meta reason like "this is just a Japanese thing", I was looking for a different, more in-universe reason. Sadly, only much later did I start getting into the actual materials about them, and try make some (to be fair, quite summary) research about their mythological inspiration. I suspect everything is just a trap, made to caught unaware people off-guard (an in terms of meta, turn a frightening beast of mythology into a "waifu"). Another idea I have come up with was expressed in a previous topic. I will just bring it here: I've been thinking of something among these lines a while ago. Maybe it is related to faith and fear that determines how the youkai/god will look like. Which can also be connected to their physical appearance and design choice. Right here, I'd spawn a bit of a headcanon: in the old days, people used to fear the youkai. Therefore, this fear turned them into the frightening, mythology-accurate forms we know of from Japanese traditions. However, as times changed, people have started to become less fearful of them, especially in the outside world following the increasing implementation of science, and therefore the youkai have started to lose their frightening factor and so started to look more like cute girls, while still somehow retaining their powers more or less. I am not very sure if any of this makes sense, but this is what I could come up as a random theory at 3 AM. I wish I might be wrong about some of the points I have brought earlier, especially in the first paragraph. I feels like a real shock going from one tone that seems to have been promoted in the fandom, then collide it with the realities of canon. This is also a place where cultural differences and cultural shock come into play, as the realities of Japanese culture and religion are a great unknown to me. There are a lot of things that very different from the culture and traditions I was brought up into, and there are things I might never be able to understand. I also find it ironic how shocked and in a poor mood I can get be knowing a thing I like can be dark. Which is strange, especially because I absolutely love Warhammer 40,000. And that universe is very known as the poster-child (and creator) of the concept of grimdark to begin with. But yeah, this is me going again through a weird period of questioning myself why do I actually like this series and what makes it so lovable for me. Last time it happened last year, and back then it shattered m original image of Touhou.