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With the power of bonus hour, courtesy of daylight savings' end, I hope to make it to the end of the first modern era. Touhou 12 ~ Unidentified Fantastic Object There are some very iconic tracks early on in this entry, but they tend to be more reliant on simple, repetitive motifs; there's nothing wrong with this, but in this case I prefer some of the more complex pieces. Interdimensional Voyage of a Ghostly Passenger Ship remains one of the most unique stage themes in the series with its hybrid jazz integrated into ZUN's standard style (on that note, Heian Alien gets honorable mention). Alternatively, Emotional Skyscraper ~ Cosmic Mind is essentially a standard final boss theme; however, I consider this to be the successful capturing of the "elevated" tone that ZUN didn't quite manage in Catastrophe in Bhava-Agra. Byakuren is meant to be perceived as a somewhat elevated character, and this theme communicates the ideal mood for this perception. Touhou 12.3 Hisoutensoku ~ Unthinkable Natural Law In some estimations, the peak of Tasofro's productions (technically in conjunction with 12.5, which this acts as an optional expansion to). Whether that's true or not, it does have some significant musical contributions. I consider Did You See That Shadow? as the definitive menu track for the fighting games (though not my absolute favorite), properly conveying the spirit of the Touhou Project (complete with the Eastern Story motif) while retaining the style unique to the sub-series. More importantly, however, this release features my favorite Akiyama composition, Our Hisoutensoku (Full ver.). To me, this is peak Akiyama, leaning fully into his own styles and ultimately running away with them. It remains one of my favorite pieces in the series. Touhou 12.5 ~ Double Spoiler An easy one; Bell of Avici ~ Infinite Nightmare. Overall, this entry doesn't differ that much compared to its predecessor of 9.5, but somehow I appreciate this soundtrack a little bit more. The arrangements seem darker than usual, and I wonder if this wasn't a way for ZUN to make use of compositions he didn't feel fit well into his mainline titles. That's pure speculation, though. Oriental Sacred Place will be addressed later. Touhou 12.8 ~ Great Fairy Wars I dare say this is one of the most unique games in the series, being a spin-off title that remains individual in its mechanics to this day. Because it's a spin-off entry, I'll stick with a single track for it, but it is technically large enough to warrant better treatment, and I'm sure others would have no problem picking out more tracks once familiar with the full collection. For me, Great Fairy Wars ~ Fairy Wars is the standout piece; considering it's a final boss theme, it's unusually cheerful, but still maintains the necessary intensity for its function, and as such fits the situation perfectly. ZUN's Music Collection Vol. 5.5: Unknown Flower, Mesmerizing Journey Another EP with extremely limited option, although this being a short-notice situational release does somewhat justify it. I'm somewhat obligated to pick Unknown Flower, Mesmerizing Journey as the only original composition of the collection, but I'll also mention this version of Tomorrow Will be Special as a noteworthy arrangement. Touhou 13 ~ Ten Desires I've mentioned my appreciated for this game's stage themes in the past, and I'll further reinforce here that I'm not very fond of the boss themes. Aside from that, it may be worth mentioning a distinction between the standard versions of these tracks and their "spirit" variations, which are the same but with emphasis on the melody or accompaniment. There's also layered edits (dubbed "complete"), and while I don't believe these are official, they are usually my preferred option for listening. Regardless, my favorite tracks are Desire Drive (of course) and Let's Live in a Lonely Cemetery; the soundtrack as a whole excels in atmospheric melodies, and as far as I'm concerned these are the strongest. Honorable mention to Welcome to Youkai Temple, specifically the standard version as the spirit variant doesn't have the same pluckiness. Oriental Sacred Place My frustration with this collection is its heavy reliance on remixes, having only one original track out of eight total. Granted, these are some of the better examples of ZUN's remixing abilities; these tracks tend to differ more from their originals than music collection arrangements normally do (possibly had something to do with the context of composition, but that's too complicated a theory for right now). I still prefer a bit more balance/variety for these releases. While I'm not that fond of the original Magus Night, the subtle differences in this collection's version make it a bit more appealing to me. ZUN's Music Collection Vol. 6: Trojan Green Astroid There's quite a few unusual tracks in this album where I figure ZUN was experimenting with expansions of his customary style. The Barrier of Ame-no-torifune Shrine is practically a trip through space in musical form, and somehow scrapes the outer limits of standard Touhou sound while still remaining recognizable. On the other hand, Trojan Asteroid Jungle is a delightfully jumpy, jazzy, yet mysterious piece, and sets the standard for the music collection style going forward. ZUN's Music Collection Vol. 7: Neo-traditionalism of Japan For all intents and purposes, the second-half/continuation of volume six, featuring many of the same musical characteristics. I've always found these two especially hard to pick favorites from. Nonetheless, my official selections are Green Sanatorium and Winds of Agartha, both very different in energy yet somehow comparable in tone. Honorable mention to Led On by a Cow to Visit Zenkou Temple, the unrecognized experimental predecessor to fellow percussion-focused piece Primordial Beat. Touhou 13.5 ~ Hopeless Masquerade Imo, HM functions as the perfect crossroads between the "first" and "second" modern eras; it features a wide variety of cameos in homage the series' history and serves as a climax to the loosely-connected stories of 10-13, but also introduces a new gameplay system and artstyle for the fighting game series. This happens to be my favorite Akiyama arrangement collection (somewhat fitting, as it was also the last); something about the instrumentation and overall style feels free-er than usual. This Dull World's Unchanging Pessimism ~ Shinkirou Orchestra is my favorite menu theme for these spin-offs, not for any reason connected to its use, but simply because I love its melody and progression. For my second pick, there are several tempting options, but the one track I listen to most from them is the remix of Akutagawa Ryuunosuke's "Kappa" ~ Candid Friend. Honorable mention to Omiwa Legend and its accordion. WHY DO THESE TAKE SO LONG?! Can y'all tell I was rushing through the last several entries? So much for an extra hour of sleep.