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Holy shit @CountVonNumenor, you really like putting us through the wringer on these posts, huh? Not just satisfied having us go through your episode-by-episode reactions, but MegaFrog's hour-long video AND a compilation of comments too? Absolute sadist. I'm kidding. I love that any thread you start up is gonna get my brain-gears turning. Though I'm not as happy to say that thanks to MegaFrog's due diligence, there isn't much of anything I can think of to research for this thread. But getting to revisit my time with MoP again leaves me with a lot of questions and thoughts on it, and I feel like sharing them. Girls are now calculating... So, trying to put a pin in my feelings for Memories of Phantasm turned out to be really difficult because I don't really have strong feelings for it. My feelings are largely similar to the kind of reception MegaFrog covered in his video: I remember the show pretty fondly, I can recall a good number of moments that I enjoyed, and some I enjoyed a lot, but when I try to think about the kind of impact it left on me, I can't really muster up anything more than "It's the Touhou anime," and end up defaulting to a lot of the criticisms for stuff about it that I didn't like. Which is a shame. No other singular project in the Touhou fandom that I've seen reaches the kind of scale MoP does, and despite it being so full of stuff that I really liked, my feelings about it overall are just lukewarm... One of the pieces of MegaFrog's video that stuck out to me was his opening argument over authorial intent and the claim that MoP was never made to be an adaptation of Touhou Project. Maybe it was recency bias, the well-formed argument MegaFrog made around this, or that smooth voice of his, but I ended up following along with it throughout the entirety of his video, but when I spent literal hours yesterday trying to write out a response to this thread, I ended up feeling frustrated because despite agreeing with his position at the time, most of my stances and feelings on MoP contradicted it. I decided to sleep on the matter. When I woke up, I realized that there were a few points MegaFrog made that I don't actually agree with; this being one of them. MoP adds very little "new" to the stories of the games. Sure, it takes creative liberties with the way characters are portrayed and how the events are structured, but that was going to happen anyways. All adaptations take creative liberties. Claiming that MoP isn't one just highlights how little deviation there is from the events it's recreating, and how reductive the deviations it does take are. People mistaking MoP as a failed adaptation of Touhou's canon isn't the result of fans misunderstanding the project; it's the result of MoP failing to forge it's own unique identity separate from the source material. Alright, let's talk about the tiddies because ho' boy, there are sure a lot of them in MoP. Look, I watched MegaFrog's entire video. I see the image. The fanservicing was done because the creators wanted it; not necessarily to make the show more marketable. I get it. But on the other hand, what does it matter why the fanservice was put in? When I hear people complain that the fanservice is excessive, they don't care about whether it was an executive decision for money or the passion work of a particularly horny animator; they care that it's detracting from a story that's already cutting out characters and potential content to make a tight run time and negatively impacts their ability to enjoy the show. "Why" is completely irrelevant in this. It's not people are gonna say "Well, I used to hate Chen's ass, but now that I know the artist is into it, I guess it is pretty cool." And since I guess this has become the "This is the part where SoundOfRayne disagrees with MegaFrog's analysis of MoP's criticisms" part of the post, I may as well comment on the final thing I don't agree with him on: the closing image of the three ways in which MoP is misinterpreted by the creators, its critics, and its fans. Mind, not because of what's actually put on-screen. I do believe that different people have different conclusions on what Memories of Phantasm is trying to be. No, what I disagree with is the implication that MoP's mixed reception comes from a shared responsibility (or lack thereof) from all three parties to properly identify and understand the show. I do not agree with this implication in the slightest. As GensouChronicle put it, "I blame the people in charge of the project." As a creator, it is your responsibility to properly establish what your work is and what it's about. If people are misunderstanding MoP, that's its creators' fault, not theirs. Okay, now that I've covered the Frog in the room, I guess I talk about my specific feelings on Memories of Phantasm now. I do wanna start with positives since, as I said before, MoP does so many things well, and those positives often get overshadowed by its criticisms. I don't think this needs much elaboration, but damn, MoP looks so darn pretty. All of the art is crisp and clean, and pretty much any frame of the show could be a valid wallpaper choice. Personally, I'm a bigger fan of good smear-framing to sell that extra bit of oomph to movements, but I'd be stupid not to recognize the talent that went into MoP's visual production. Even as the show carried on and the team downsized, the art for the show continues to look polished and professional. One of the things that MoP does that most other non-game fanworks don't is portraying actual danmaku battles. Danmaku are such visual clutter; it works well in the context of the games, but for things like doujin manga or animations, it distracts viewers from what the artist wants them to focus on. So, most examples of battles in fanworks tend to be simpler; more direct attacks with basic patterns to give fights a better sense of direction and flow. But MoP opts to animate danmaku in all of their glory, giving us gorgeous scenes of colorful bullet patterns, and they're just as captivating and terrifying as they are in the games. Admittedly, though, this does come with the downside of being less visually impressive once things zoom in and we watch the characters just... not get hit by anything. I'm convinced that Touhou bosses all just have Stormtrooper aim, but also have like 1000 blasters to even it out. Something's bound to hit, right? This one might be a bit contentious depending on which character you happen to be a fan of, but on the whole, I do like the way most of the characters are written. Cirno is the favorite in my book. She's not too stupid, but she's also clearly not all there. She's arrogant and scrappy, but also gets her moments to be sweet for Daiyousei. MegaFrog was spot on. I never really considered having a favorite episode for the show, but if I had to choose, I would give it to The Mysterious Giant Youkai. I kinda forgot how favorably I remembered that episode until I heard MegaFrog talking about it. Also, can we talk about Nitori being an adorkable little butterbean? She just wants to play with her science toys, and Marisa joins in as her hypeman just because it "sounds like it'd be cool." Sure, Nitori getting flirty with her wasn't really my thing, but everything else was so cute and wholesome and I loved it. I wish the actual MoF story wasn't going on and I coulda just gotten an episode of them just playing around, being doofuses. Okay, so Meiling got absolutely shafted in the EoSD arc. Everyone agrees on this. But like, Meiling being Flandre's mom in pretty much every other scene they're in is the most precious and wholesome thing ever, and no one talks about it. It's all just "haha, lazy gatekeeper gets her ass handed to her." Meiling fans, just... take the L on that fight, okay? You're still eating pretty good. Alright, I know this one is hated by a lot of people, but... I actually really like Eiki in MoP. Not necessarily because I like her flanderized personality (smol, judgemental, obnoxiously self-righteous, talks shit about everyone to their face literally the whole night) but because despite being shown as annoying and non-threatening, she strikes the most visceral fear into the hearts of everyone the moment she's mentioned. I find the idea that listening to her lectures is more terrifying that the literal death-matches these characters have with each other absolutely hilarious, canon be damned. Sure, MoP doesn't bat 1000. There are definitely characters who got the short end of the stick when it came to representation. If you're a fan of any character who shows up before stage 4, you just get to eat whole shit. Except Alice. Alice fans get to eat good. ...Fuck you, Alice fans... I would say that the big main issue I take with MoP is, as MegaFrog elaborated on, its lack of identity. MoP does do something very fascinating, though. I would say it's a perfect reflection of the inconsistency within the Touhou fandom. MoP wants to be a high-intensity action show that replicates the spectacle of danmaku battles from the games, but it also wants to be a cute, silly little slice-of-life-y show that focuses on these adorable little beans we call characters, but it also also wants to coat the whole thing in raw sex appeal because the fandom sure does like their yuri-bait and tiddies, huh? It's like it's trying to be everyone's Touhou and, well... In all fairness, it did bring everyone together to collectively say, "Not my Touhou." That's really what it boils down to. It's trying to be for everyone; to encompass as much about Touhou's canon and fandom as possible to give everyone something. And as the old saying goes, if you try to please everyone, you'll end up pleasing no one. That's why I think that MoP is so heavily panned compared to its contemporaries. A Summer's Day Dream and Hifuu Club Activity Record knew exactly what they wanted to be; what story they wanted to tell, how they wanted to tell it, and who they wanted to tell it for. So people who watched them can know exactly why they like them, or maybe don't like them. They can judge them fairly because they understand what they're watching. MoP didn't have this. Even though it was incredibly popular, not many people seem to consider themselves fans of it, and I totally get that. And that's where I find myself with Memories of Phantasm. There are all these moments which captured my heart, but that's all they were; moments. It's like taking a bunch of really tasty ingredients and putting them in a pot to cook, except the pot is rusted and hadn't been cleaned in a while, the heat isn't at the right setting, and oh yeah, you don't know how to cook. Those ingredients- those moments- might be good on their own; maybe even the best. But unless they can be properly tied together, your soup is gonna end up nasty. MoP is so odd to talk about because it's a whole that's somehow less than the sum of its parts. It's easy to punch down to because people from all stages in the Touhou fandom can find the cracks in it pretty easily. But it's hard to hate. Despite how much flak it gets for the sloppy execution, people still see Memories of Phantasm for what it truly is: A labor of love at an unprecedented level. Seriously, how many other fandoms can get a whole, independently funded, professionally animated series? Touhou fans really are an entirely different breed. I think that's why people give all this conflicting reception to it. It's a genuinely special endeavor for the Touhou fandom, and that kind of passion shouldn't go unappreciated. But, uhh... It was kinda hard watching the end of MegaFrog's video, hearing about just how bad MoP's finances are. It's heartbreaking knowing that this massive passion project, given to one of the most ravenous fanbases around, isn't making back any of its money. Like, this is the same fandom that will shell out hundreds of dollars for a fucking felt plushie based off an ages-old fan manga (Seriously, fuck Fumos), but this is where they draw the line? I'm genuinely shocked. I hope for the sake of the people who really believe in Memories of Phantasm that no one ends up breaking themselves over it.

"I was thinking about covering that series at one point. I have not personally watched it, but my best friend did, and told me a little bit what it is about long ago. The series I would have gone into next was rather going to be Memories of Phantasm. I have foreshadowed a summary + review for each episode since back in May when I wrote the multi-thread collection, yet still have to go through it. I have watched the first 7 episodes in the winter break at the end of 2020, yet never went further. Perhaps with the review, I may be able to finish the series and refresh on what I have already watched." - CountVonNumenor, in The time has come: CountVonNumenor is talking about KKHTA... (3rd November 2022) Merry Christmas everyone! The time has finally come. Just as I promised, I am no here to write the tread on Touhou Gensou Mangekyou, better known as The Memories of Phantasm or Fantasy Kaleidoscope (both names seem to be used interchangeably on the internet and in YouTube uploads of the series). Take this a my Christmas gift for the community. Since I was finally in the winter break, I have decided to give a watch again to the series. It's been 2 years since my previous attempt at going through the fan-made anime, and it stopped at Episode 7. Back then, I simply could not get forward after seeing all the negativity the series was getting as I was advancing through the episodes (I was watching one of those version you can find on YouTube, so the voice-over was quite far from good at times). One of the things that really made me get back to this idea was the recent review of the series made by Megafrog (video will be linked at the end). He nailed down excellently a lot of the main points when it comes to the strong and weak points of MoP. Therefore, my review will be instead a brief breakdown of each episode, followed by the raw, unfiltered opinions on the episode itself accompanied by screenshots and further comments. Unfortunately, I only have the raw thoughts and screenshots registered beginning with Episode 5,therefore I will have to find a different formula for everything before that. I have searched for a streaming platform (I really wanted to find a better voiceover version from that on YouTube, and actually found so on anime streaming websites), then got myself a couple free days to go through all the 17 episodes. I was planning to write this thread since yesterday and only have it published today, on the 25th December, but it seems like it took me longer than planned. I would like to thank @Isaac, @sodaodaoda and @Gou the frog in accompanying me while watching the episodes. It was extremely fun to discuss with them live as the things were unfolding in front of my eyes. I will probably try that again at some point in the future. Without any further ado, let's get into the content you have all come here for, shall we? Episode 1 - The Spring Snow Incident This is the beginning of the series. After a brief prologue scene giving us the origin of the never-coming spring incident from Perfect Cherry Blossom, we are introduced to probably one of the most recognizable intros for a fan-made Touhou project, on the music of Yuuhei Satellite (seriously, that song is so memorable). From here, we have a retelling of the events from Touhou 7, as seen in the vision of the show creators (and apparently the fandom itself), and not necessarily that of ZUN and game itself. So this is what I thought about it: from the first minutes, we basically establish Marisa as the main character; Reimu can still be considered a protagonist, but most of the focus seems to go towards Marisa at the Hakurei Shrine, we have a few things established: 1) Reimu is lazy, and as long as she is not bothered, she will not go out to solve the incident and 2) the brief Cirno representation was probably supposed to be the mid-stage boss in Stage 1 Marisa decides to go by herself solve the cause of the prolonged winter the fight against Letty is basically 2 shots, one of them being Letty falling defeated to the ground (this will be a common occurrence through the series with lesser bosses and budget restrains to animate battles) Stage 2: pretty much a cat-chase at what I guess is supposed to be Mayohiga? Stage 3: brief meeting at Alice's house, again made out of a few shots, or batter said snapshots (oh, I forgot to mention, Aya is already around, taking photos of wherever Marisa is going) Stage 4: we are literally bypassing Lily White and the Prismriver sisters without any bit of interaction Stage 5: finally at the stairs leading up to Hakugyokurou; the duel against Youmu begins after she insults us in a very generic "ah, a human is too weak to defeat us" kind of speech; we have a brief fight, after which Youmu is curb-stomped by Marisa after the latter used what looks to me like Blazing Star, ramming the half-human-half-phantom into a wall and knocking her out Stage 6: Ara Ara, we have a smug, big booba Yuyuko; we are finally at the first serious confrontation of the episode; and like any villain of the week, Yuyuko also has her own monologue meanwhile, Reimu is still chilling at her Shrine; it is only due to a timely arrival of Sakuya (in her PCB outfit, albeit with a skirt that slowly getting shorter with each shot she is in) that Reimu is convinced to go help Marisa (we don't see Sakya afterwards through the plot except for a cameo at the end) Reimu finally joins the battle at Hakugyokurou; the Yuuhei Satellite song starts again, and it is time for the final showdown; in her arrogance, Yuyuko falls into a trap set by Reimu, and is defeated via Fantasy Seal end scene: party at the Hakurei Shrine; everyone is happy, we have a friendly banter between Reimu and Marisa, then end credits ...except for the fact we have a post-credits scene; it seems to be in the brief aftermath of PCB, with Youmu and Yuyuko looking at the youkai cherry tree; we do get a surprise though - at Hakugyokurou, out of nowhere, Sanae shows up, the context and scenery implying that she just as arrived to Gensokyo (it would make sense, given tat just before Youmu arrived, the whole Yakumo family was there - we get there when we get there) Conclusion: this could be longer. I really wish more characters had some proper screen time, but I guess you cannot ask too much from a fan project after all, especially when the final goal is to make some money from your product (and even at that, MoP seems to have failed in some measure) Episode 2 - The Scarlet Mist Incident (Part 1) Interestingly enough, this episode has an alternative title in the title sequence: An interview without the Vampire, which is a clear reference to the film Interview with the Vampire from 1994. Anyway, time to make the timeline more confusing. Are you with me? Alright, let's go: the episode starts with a large banquet at the Moriya Shrine, in what looks to be the aftermath of Subterranean Animism after a few minutes of introduction, there comes the intro; we have a new intro from previous episode everything starts nicely - it is an intro that makes reference to the events of SA; at this point, you may be forgiven if you assumed it would be SA that will be covered in this episode... anyway, we have the formation of the gheizer and HOLY MOTHER OF MONKE, SOMEONE IS ABOUT TO CALL THE FBI - the fanservice scene with everyone naked at the hot springs comes out of nowhere, and can be very questionable; at least there is more about this intro to go a few more nice battle sequences, mostly Reimu vs Yuugi and a team battle between Reimu & Marisa vs Okuu and Orin at the Blazing Hell, then Reimu and Marisa chilling at another hot spring, this time dressed - good thing for Marisa that she wears bloomers, since we get quite a copious amount of Reimu thighs there anyway, about the episode itself oh yeah, those two are here, along with everyone from SA poor Nitori, she got blasted Team Rocket style by Kanako for an inappropriate comment we get more of the Moriya Shrine party, and after some curiosity on the side of Sanae (we will get there when we get there), Marisa takes the role of story-teller and decides to tell us the story of the Scarlet Mist Incident (of course, with some support from Sakuya, to "fill some of the gaps" - again, we get there when we get there...) Storytime with Marisa we just start with some chill atmosphere at the Misty Lake; Cirno does her famous "Icicle Fall Easy", Aya shows up, and points Marisa towards the newly arrived wester style mansion (proved to be the Scarlet Devil Mansion later) Aya points out that she tried getting in numerous times, only to be stopped by the vicious gatekeeper (we are getting some setting for Meiling to be a tough opponent) Marisa breaks in the mansion, goes downstairs and finds Flandre's room now for the Flandre encounter: this is 2013, so the psycho child version of her is still up; the show did go for a soft version of that fan interpretation, but also for someone not realizing hor fragile things like humans actually are (more on that and her personality next time) Flan chases Marisa through the Mansion, and the two end up in the library of Patchouli; Flan is caught in a trap, and Patchy decided to take the fight on her own here comes the most annoying side-character, miss exposition herself, Koakuma Patchouli goes on a similar rand to that of Youmu last episode, directs a spell towards Marisa, and we get a cliffhanger ending of the episode Patchouli starts the Scarlet Mist and spreads it over Gensokyo cute intermission I forgot to talk about: I really like the waiting screens for each of the arcs (I will post them as we progress through the story) Episode 3 - The Scarlet Mist Incident (Part 2) first episode where we are getting a recap of the events, narrated by Marisa; together with the intro sequence (same one as past episode), we are at about 4 minutes into the episode already the party is till going since we have not met yet the Yakumo clan proper in the PCB episode, welcome to Yukari, Ran and Chen; what was the best way to introduce them? HOLY MOTHER OF MONKE x2, another hot springs scene, and kind of a long one (2 minutes of the whole screen time of the episode); the righting itself is... alright, but you just can't focus on it when you have two naked ladies in front of you only conveniently censored by mild steam and water reflections Touhou visual learner moment at its finest but to quote our friend Megafrog on the issue: we are back to the Marisa vs Patchouli battle; after a short, mostly off-screen battle (this will become another common occurrence through the series), Patchouli is defeated, and now both Marisa and Flandre are heading towards Remilia meanwhile, Reimu finally woke up and is heading towards the Scarlet Devil Mansion; Rumia gets her few seconds of screen time in this arc (about 17 seconds), coming in ball of darkness, missing Reimu and bumping into a tree, Meiling, previously established as a fierce gatekeeper, is defeated in on fell "sword vs gun" swoop, and now is time for Reimu to fight the real enemy, Sakuya hold up a second; this Meiling design was established to be the one not wearing pants; and even more so, some of the shots imply the fact she might not even have any underwear down there; does this mean that when she was laid down defeated, we got a small glimpse at her crotch? given the fact her clothes were torn in that area (more about torn clothes in the following episodes) the Sakuya fight respects the formula established until now: villain/villain's servant(s) keep a lengthy speech about the fact they cannot be stopped, the two characters start fighting, and Reimu wins; how does Reimu win this time? does she use a clever trick like in the Yuyuko fight? not really - we get her basically faking a death (perhaps a game reference?), spawns behind Sakuya, locks her in place with seals and giver the maid the final blow Marisa and Flandre finally reach Remilia; we get a bit more backstory about Flandre and how she was locked in her room, with the implication that the lack of contact and interaction with the rest of the SDM crew made her have problems, and then we end up with a fight between the two sisters Episode 4 - The Scarlet Mist Incident (Part 3) Remilia and Flandre keep fighting each other, while Reimu and Marisa finally meet the two sisters reconcile, then decid to fight together against the protagonists the beginning of an actual battle; again, the Yuuhei Satellite music plays, and we get some scenes pretty much shot-for-shot from the intro used in the PCB episode; the battle is concluded when Reimu dropped a huge Ying-Yang orb on the Scarlet sisters, blowing the Scarlet Devil Mansion (it can't be a Touhou doujin if the SDM doesn't explode...) YING YANG ORB TO THE FACE! and now we are back to the part; Flandre appears and starts another fight with Remilia over pudding end credits, and wait a second, another post-credits scene (after 4 episodes, none of them had the same outro; at least they had the money to create new end sequences for each episode); this time, we have a teaser... for UFO? we have Nitori walking through the woods, only to accidentally witness Shou and Nazrin discovering the place where Byakuren was sealed (and a glimpse of Byakuren as well); a teaser that will most likely lead to nothing in the future Conclusion: boobs, boobs everywhere. Ahem, I mean a fine trilogy; a bit long at some points, some fanservice that could be shortened, and probably what Megafrog is calling "the best worst fight of the show" (Reimu vs Sakuya) Episode 5 - The Flower Incident (Part 1) New arc, this time we have shifted focus to PoFV out of all games. Are we going to keep jumping around games like that for the rest of the episodes as well? Anyway, this is the filler/breather arc, but this is also the place from where my thoughts will become shorter and less organized. This is also where I started directly talking to Isaac as I was watching (though I may have actually done it since the EoSD arc, given i still have screenshots from that one as well). Anyway, on with the ideas: we have a new intro, with some cute arrangement of Fate of Sixty Years - it is actually quite an adorable intro, and it gives a lot of awesome shots of the characters we are going to meet (...or maybe not) through the arc - PoFV after all had quite a large and diverse cast I have never seen a happier Medicine than here since she was so present in Episode 5, I will call this one the Aya episode Aya goes to the Hakurei Shrine, asking Reimu to exterminate a youkai just so that she would have anything to write about in her newspaper; naturally, Reimu refuses, and Aya leaves disappointed Aya then heads to the Garden of the Sun; Cirno is already there, and gets the scare of her life (I am sorry, I mean her strongest senses detected something as very hazardous) now we meet Yuuka for the first and only time, and man, do I really love this voice-over for her; she really sounds like a woman in this fandub, compared to the fandub available on YouTube (I love this version of her so much...) I will also leave a sample showing what I mean in regards to the voice option for her: ahem, back to the topic; Yuuka ends up putting a flower on Cirno, and Aya leaves disappointed (again) that there was no action (I will actually start posting the random, unorganized thoughts from now on) quick visit at the Scarlet devil Mansion; Flandre grabs a screaming plant, Meiling is a running joke again, Patchouli faints and Sakuya pulls a ZA WARUDO on Aya, turning her into a pincushion (scream into the night) Poor Aya, she's becoming increasingly disappointed First Reimu refused going out to exterminate youkai, and now Yuuka proved to be harmless Hey, Kaguya and Eirin! Also Medicine! Miss Lily is so tiny here Oh yeah, time for the Tewi prank; can't wait to see her again getting forced to chug that bottle of poison... She fell for it oh, poor bunny, forced to get a taste of her own medicine; at least Reisen got her revenge meanwhile, Mokou is just shrugging it as just another day at Eintei I guess now Aya finally got something to write about? and now for another cute commercial break sequence ok, now to Mystia's Izakaya moment funny detail I have noticed: Mystia's theme is briefly playing in the background, be it in-universe through some sort of speaker at the bar or just from the overall OST of the episode it's just a few notes, but it's already recognizable and now Eiki is here, angrier than usual... outro Episode 6 - The Flower Incident (Part 2) Aya is narrating this episode's recap section; I love how she embellished the truth despite the fact we could very clearly see what was going on in the scenes she was talking about (many times pretty much the opposite from her claims) interesting voice choices for Mokou and Keine (both are very good); very lady-like (something I really appreciate, if not have a soft spot for) and now for the famous Youmu-Komachi dialogue oh no, the Yama is here now Eiki is furious, Komachi is scared, and Youmu is hammered: (incoming Donald Duck voice lecture - that was THE ACTUAL AUDIO from the episode not before Eiki getting pushed back from the bounce of Komachi's boobs (because their size had to be somehow emphasized) poor Mystia, Komachi did not pay... and now time to lecture Youmu nice how she (Youmu )suddenly woke up to be sober when realizing Lady Enma from Hell was right next to her holding the Myon like a plushy is adorable though interesting how Youmu turned from the serious minion in Episode 1 to this goofball in Episode 6 now we are dragged again into a title screen that has an alternative title for the episode, more precisely being called Judgement Day (Part 2) in the sequence oh poor Youmu, she is now slowly dying inside next to the Yama as she gets lectured Myon is down in a faint... ...and so is she: my oh my, Aya is here now, and with torn clothes too wait a minute, is it just me, or her boobs increased in size since last episode?! Nice cut, Aya oh no, it's time for Aya to be lectured too famous last words: "I'm off duty today" and so, the Donald Duck lecture begins... yay, at least Mystia is back ok, Aya getting slapped with the Rod of Remorse sure was random and unexpected at least she got a good pillow for the night; I am sure Komachi will not be bothered: that must have been a rough night for Youmu - get drunk, be lectured by the Yama and threatened you will go to hell, suffer an emotional breakdown, then continue getting lectured for the rest of the night and now for the intermission with Sanae and the Yakumo clan; welcome to Gensokyo, Sanae Chen does cat things in the background and is adorable hey, we finally get the Prismriver sisters do something as we are back at the Hakurei Shrine since we are getting to the end, and everyone is trying to run from the Yama seems like Lyrica was the most vocal out of the three sisters in their scene; our few precious seconds of the Prismriver sisters in a speaking role and now Suika joins the scene, scared by Eiki and Reimu is just as scary now for the ending; normally, I would not say anything since one images makes as much as a million words, but here it is So much for Marisa... I like the outro song, it's a nice remix for Higan Retour and of course, since the arc is over, we are getting another teaser; this time, it is for the Mountain of Faith arc, which actually does happen (finally) Conclusion: a bit of an unnecessary arc. It was nice to get a breath after the battles of the previous arc, but I think it could have been executed better. Also god, this little version of Eiki... I know, I know, they wanted to go with her fanon/"Danzai Yamaxanadu" version, but I guess it is not my cup of tea. Episode 7 - The Mysterious Giant Youkai Now, all of a sudden, the creators of the show have decided to randomly jump forward in time, presenting us the Cirno route in Touhou Hisoutensoku. ok, we are back to the Yuuhei Satellite intro from first episode; well, just am excuse to listen again to that magnificent song oh, I love the Godzilla reference from the title of this episode "Daidarabocchi, King of the Monsters!" Meiling is sleeping again on duty... nice introduction of Alice; I have the feeling she will be much better in this show than her usual fanon (which is quite a surprise) looks like Cirno still has to train in using Perfect Freeze oh, it's cute that Daiyousei still cares about the wellbeing of Cirno even they had an argument now at the Hakurei Shrine; Sanae is here, which just confuses the heck out of me (mostly due to the random order of the story arcs and rewritings done by Manpukujinja to make their plot work) hey, a maneki-neko in the background No, Reimu, I was talking about a little cat and now Sanae is geeking out over the idea the Daidarabocchi could be a robot, and that they could be real in Gensokyo she is all so fired up about the idea also this on to the next scene hmm, I see the market scene is filled with static background characters literally everyone is frozen there as they have not been animated; it starts becoming visible that the production/animation team is starting to cut corners with the animation process and effort put into things) the Myoren Temple group is back and this time, Shou has her beloved pagoda I really like this version of Alice; amazing how out of all pieces of fanon, MoP was the one to come up with an awesome version of Alice - calm, a helpful person, and just lacking any ill intentions new commercial break transition screen: Okuu Time! again, nice voice pick for Utsuho - she really does sound like an imposing woman in this version of the fan voice-over time for the battle of the bird-brains - the literal birdbrain vs the ⑨ Yes you are, dummy [...] meanwhile, in Okuu's (bird)brain: (Nuclear Fusion starts playing) meanwhile, at Chireiden - there we have our 10 seconds of shared screen-time for Satori and Koishi in this episode holy shit, I really love this new voice-over, especially that for Okuu; quite a progress from the version I have seen in YouTube - she sounded so bored and monotone there Yeah, she is scary (and hot - both literally and metaphorically) Daiyousei to the rescue! ...and if course, Cirno failed AGAIN at Perfect Freeze poor Dai-Chan, she can't catch a break from getting frozen... (WARNING: Count is about to geek out over this depiction of Okuu) I just love the combination of good character design and woman voice Okuu was given in this episode. Oh god, she's hot, not gonna lie (both literally and metaphorically). Alright, where was I? Ah, yeah, Daiyousei is not here to help Cirno, and she ended up frozen in another failed attempt at Perfect Freeze... Reminds me of a saying we have here in Romania: "Mare e grădina Domnului" (basically meaning there is room for anything possible; or just like Okuu said) Also sudden Suwako hat smash - oh, poor her (birb gonna cry) anyway... even now, at the end of the story, Meiling is still sleeping; never mind, she just woke up. How was the dream about fighting the giant catfish, Meiling? awww, Cirno and Daiyousei finally came to terms nice reveal about the Goliath Doll at the end also do I hear an arrangement for The Grimoire of Alice in the background? alright, this time the outro is just a compilation of Cirno scenes from the previous episodes - literally EVERY Cirno scene (even some from the following story arc) and I think the song is the one related to Hisoutensoku? I don't really know the songs from the early fighter games Conclusion: surprisingly, an overall very good episode. I really like the Alice-Daiyousei dynamic, and gave us probably one of my favorite fanon versions of our beloved puppeteer. Okuu might just just as much of a birdbrain as fans depicted her, but she is still my beloved birdbrain. I see a lot of people online hate this episode (after all, this is where I stopped at my first watch, seing all the comments), but I think it was actually good. And i see that I have backing when it comes to that (more on that at end). Episode 8 - The Eternal Night Incident (Part 1) We are going back in time, to the era of Imperishable Night. From here on, the plots start becoming a little annoying, scenes frustrating and sometimes either unnecessary or just extremely convenient. Get ready for 5 episodes that could have been so much shorter... prologue: alright, is what Eirin did to the Moon in the opening sequence basically an eclipse before bringing in the fake moon? new arc intro sequence; this time, it actually fits with what is going on Awww, this Keine is so pretty! is the theme used for the intro a version of Rise for the Moon, Immortal Smoke? or whatever the name of the Mokou theme was nice to see the teams forming though so the Tewi scene from previous intro happened in the larger context of this scene...; now it's even more weird that we had PoFV before IN Reimu wtf ...and now Sanae is part of Team Hakugyokurou? chronologically, Sanae was last seen at Hakugyokurou, at the end of the PCB episode since she just as arrived to Gensokyo (so in Episode 1) again, have I told you how much I like this version of Alice? quite a pleasant surprise ("Alice is great here" counter should be a thing) I am confused, which one is the actual name of the episode and arc? I see both The Night the Earth Stood Still and The Eternal Moon Incident; really like those title screens though poor Wriggle and Mystia, already defeated off-screen... we only see them knocked out more of Keine though anyway, great dynamic between Marisa and Alice- one as the bold one and the other as the calm, calculated and methodical side Fascinating and now for Reimu fighting Marisa I can't remember the details from IN, but I am sure it was not Yukari who messed with everything, right? given that she calls herself the culprit here in the anime, which creates some (artificial) tension between Reimu and Marisa and therefore leads to them fighting because I guess Stage 4 has to happen somehow; I need to check the game script again... the whole lead-up to the battle feels a little forced, even if it has to happen but again, I still need to remember what happened in the game Yukari is just smug and cocky like usual and now this arc's break screen: until now, there is some pattern I may have noticed in the show- Yukari is messing a lot with Reimu, and not treating her very well; however, when it comes to Sanae, Yukari is all friendly and "welcome to Gensokyo and all" is she actually planning something? yay, we got the famous Marisad finally they figured out the culprit is at Eintei quite a fiery entrance for Udon-chan - literally Episode 9 - The Eternal Night Incident (Part 2) BRUH - "Fantasy Kaleidoscope Episode 9 The Eternal Night Incident (Last part)" (hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha) - if only... new narration by Marisa, retelling the actions of previous episode; this recap, together with the intro, last for about 4 minutes of of the total 12 minutes of screen-time; the outro and hype-building for the following episode also take about 2-3 minutes, so we can see how much actual content there really is as a reminder that we had 2 seconds of Wriggle and Mystia combined; Wriggle gets an extra couple seconds of screen-time in the arc intro, and so does Mystia until now, Team Hakugyokurou had 1 minute, and Team Scarlet did not even show up yet huh, only now I noticed; Marisa using Master Spark in the fight against Reimu turned into a very convenient way of finding Eintei and creating a path to it So convenient... oh wait, now I think Yukari would make sense to have a role in the events - did she make the night longer or something, so to give time to find out who created the fake Moon and replace it with the real one? I am still confused if I put it with the game, as I forgot critical information from the game and now for the subtle Lunatic Eyes music; Yukari and Alice are about to fight Reisen, while Reimu and Marisa continue on their way to find the real culprit never mind... oh damn it, a good chunk of the fight against Reisen happened off screen, or better said behind the walls of Eintei now we only get the dialogue between bnnuy, Alice and Yukari the visuals for the hallway are beautiful though; the infinite hallway is quite a fascinating place, and looks cool in the game too from what I have seen (probably some of my favorite visuals from this show) suddenly Tewi... so much for Tewi 2 seconds of off-screen combat and she surrendered at least she is still the troll we all know and love so much and now time to introduce Kaguya... yeah, they really went for a lengthy scene there while talking about Kaguya's backstory I did not even know what to focus on - the story, or having the princess naked in front of us yeah, Tewi is a troll: oooooh, time to fight Eirin; Tewi is still smug as heck second chatty side-kick character that gets blown away (first was Koakuma): Still a better side-kick than Koakuma oh boy, Voyage 1969? back to Reisen now I like the thing with her splitting into duplicates (Naruto-style); an effect of the lunatic eyes? and now time for Yukari to use her trump card - bring in the Hakugyokurou crew this looks like it will become a cool fight between Youmu and Reisen... "That's all, folks!" - it was literally... 5 seconds? So much build-up for nothing it took more seconds for Reisen to fall to the ground than the fight itself ...and now Youmu and Yuyuko are gone; they really felt like a Deus Ex Machina moment good thing we got the random Sane insertion to the scene: we are finally back to the battle between Eirin, Reimu and Marisa: visuals really are epic for the Eirin fight though and now cliffhanger until next episode; imagine buying this as a CD, as each episode came on its own separate CD/DVD/BlueRay damn it, I really need a counter for how many times they have said the following episode will be the conclusion; they did it about Ep 9, now they advertised Ep. 10 as the same (Ending, Part 1) at least that was specified Episode 10 - The Eternal Night Incident (Part 3) yet another recap I don't really know how muc they really planned ahead this series, or it was done on the go which may explain the random order of the arcs, unless they wanted t build their own narrative, independent from the games I mean more about how we got the arcs and order of games- PCB, the EoSD, PoFV, Hisoutensoku, IN and finally MoF or how the more this series goes, the longer and more bloated arcs become (cute, but rather unnecessary) tiny Marisa flashback: how many trump cards does Yukari have?! now it looks like she summoned Sakuya as another Deus Ex moment to save Marisa does this show imply that the sole reason team Scarlet exists is due to the fact Yukari summoned them? hmmm, this Remilia seems very confident; she clearly did not get that Charisma Break yet out of 12:26 minutes of screentime as of Episode 10, 3:38 minutes are the recap and intro, and the final 2:26 minutes are taken by the outro and announcement for the following episode so we are left with just under 6 and a half minutes of actual episode oof, the battle turned 180 degrees with the appearance of the Team Scarlet and now, Eirin got both Fantasy Seal and Master Spark to the face yay, the real Moon is back at least Reisen is still alive despite taking a ful-on sword blow (and with no major injuries either, just scratched clothes) some more Reimu-Yukari banter and we still did not get a proper meeting with Kaguya; did they go the Eirin fight route? never mind, there she is end screen Episode 11 - The Eternal Night Incident (Part 4) Episode 11 recap really wanted to give us the full nude shot of Kaguya in there; that came out of nowhere, but I should no longer be amazed with the tone of this series (Take instead a fully-clothed Kaguya; she look pretty in the animation style of MoP) wait, we are going to have a full episode dedicated to the Extra stage? I guess more screen-time for Mokou (spoiler: only from next time) awww, they (Kaguya and Eirin) are having such a pretty, totally-not-yuri moment, it's cute [visibly confused Marisa] and in the spirit of Gensokyo, this cannot end without a danmaku battle; at least they got the word right (stil looking at you, LostWord and "battle of bullets") ...and Yukari left at least Kaguya seems to be having the fun of her life (meanwhile, in another scene) so this is where was Mokou... giving piggy rides to Cirno and again, I really love the voiceover for Mokou hey, a bit more screen time for Mystia and Wriggle; now I think we are at like... 6 seconds through the arc Ara, Kaguya is done as well (and with some slight fanservice to keep people watching) She still looks happy; must have been a fun night, filled with danmaku battles hey, I was not expecting to see Hatate in here ...the fuck happened here? Chen being adorable again what is the world is Yukari doing now at the top of the Youkai Maintain? Don't tell me this is her moving in the Moriya Shrine to Gensokyo yeah, there is, the Moriya Shrine, gods included new outro; does this mean there is one more episode in the arc? we did not have the Mokou fight yet and the test of courage Episode 12 - The Courage Test (Part 1) I was wrong; it looks like Imperishable Night Extra stage is getting not only a dedicated episode, but a dedicated sub-arc that I tend to merge together with the IN one. and now it is time for Mokou to be the next big baddie, even if until now she has shown no sign or reason for becoming one all she did was give piggy rides to Cirno through the arc again, two alternative names: Personally, I prefer The Only NEET Thing to Do and Aya is providing the comment to the trial of guts? looks like she really is used as a sports commentator in fan-made stuff (first time I saw it in LW, and now here) also a few more seconds of Wriggle and finally some more Rumia oh, I see it is actually Reisen doing the commentary/introduction to the trial, while Aya is also talking for some reason from another scene more Wriggle and Rumia ...and Mystia is alive (quite a surprise at the end of IN if you ask fanon; "Even in death, I still serve" ~ WH40K Venerable Dreadnought Mystia, probably); she still has to tend her Izakaya and ultimately become the God-Emperor of Hell's Kitchen Cirno is a true fighter at heart: more points for Eirin being cute and new transition screen time for Remilia to fight Mokou Oh God she's hot (literally and metaphorically) (we need an "oh god she's hot" moment counter) and we got our fight for now, just as quickly as it began time to interrupt for another scene we stil got a few second of it while Reimu and Kaguya were discussing about the whole trial and nature of Mokou ...and just as we were talking, Sakuya stopped time and brought Tewi tied to the roof and the episode is over... looks like this will be dragged into yet another episode new outro it feels as if Trial of Guts became its own two episodes mini-arc 6th episode already in this arc? this really extended quite a long maybe a little longer than it was welcome Episode 13 - The Test of Courage (Part 2) one more episode with Mokou though Marisa was about the joint the Remilia-Mokou fight, but then Keine happened boy oh boy oh boy, Hakutaku form Keine... and now for another scene, as quickly as we built this take a derpy Kaguya: and now finally, we are back to the duel begun in the previous episode oh shit... She will be fine, don't worry... poor Tewi, she is still tied up we need a compilation of "Kaguya being cute moments" and it looks like Keine did her famous headbutt (again, an off-screen battle, unless all she needed to do was headbutt Marisa to defeat her) or at least we get to see its aftermath... finally the arc is over time to see how much of a grind MoF shall be Conclusion: the arc started with a bit of a bang, and now it ended with a fuss. I really believe this story has dragged for a little too long, or at least longer than it was welcome. At least I hope the following arc will be better. 4 more episodes to go... Episode 14 - The Youkai Mountain Battle Incident (Part 1) Finally, time for Mountain of Faith to be put on screen. So much build-up for this arc through the series, it sure has to be worth, right... RIGHT? I am slowly starting to lose the meaning of even reviewing this series, since the arcs are slowly starting to give me less and less to talk about now to watch how Sanae destroys Reimu's donation box and now goodbye donation box... as well as a chunk of the Shrine itself so we have this new, hot-headed, self-proclaimed Shrine Maiden of the newly established Moriya Shrine; and now, she is asking the only other shrine in the land to accept becoming a subject of the newcomers or else perish we are basically in a "join Moriya Shrine or be destroyed" also the Yuuhei Satellite intro from first episode is back... again Reimu is ready to go to war, she won't accept the embarrassment from earlier: yeah, Reimu is ready to kick butt and chew bubblegum, and she is all out of bubblegum There you go, Reimu! stage 1: the Aki sisters... ...so much for the Aki sisters; they have lasted... about 1 shot and 5 seconds each? at least Minoriko still has the time and mood to talk about sweet potatoes stage 2: Hina time... ...so much for Hina (maybe 3 seconds?) Reimu sure is in full Terminator Mode now This line gives me Dark Souls vibe. "The Hakurei Miko invaded" at least Momiji gets more screen time and characterization than she actually got in MoF hey, the Tengu have phones - 19th century phones, but phones nonetheless; they do look classy. Wait, aren't they... a little outdated? Given that Tengu like Hatate have stuff like flip-phones, to just makes things funny. Or just the Tengu society is so excentric they managed to create modern phones, but dressed them in the aesthetic of 19th century (or pre-encapsulation of Gensokyo - since that happened less than 2 decades into the Meiji Restoration) devices for familiarity ladies and gentlemen, this arc;s waiting screen: and now back to Yukari in her shadow realm yeah, Yukari just wants this battle to happen Momiji is defeated during an off-screen battle: and now it is time for Aya; let's see how long it will be for her oooh, nice rock arrangement of Wind God Girl also Pokemon reference? (She's a Wind type) ah, just as the battle was about to start, and the episode is over I really like the style of the new outro and art for it Episode 15 - The Youkai Mountain Battle Incident (Part 2) time to see what actually happened in the battle against Aya she is all smug and cocky now (nothing new from bosses through the series) oh, so now Aya is willing to bargain the passing of Reimu towards the Moriya Shrine, I see and now, it is time for Reimu to defeat her effortlessly: (Don't worry, she will be back soon) wait, was a part of the Fantasy Seal animation recycled from another episode? it looks very similar to the same animation used in the fight against Eirin there goes Aya... another short, rather anticlimactic battle at least we get to see more of Marisa and Nitori speaking of which... Optical camouflage failed kappa ballistic missile! this scene is precious the missile failed failed, resulting in explosion great, now we have a kappa-induced tsunami at the Genbu Ravine I guess? (if I got the location correctly) did Nitori go full-on flirting, just after Marisa threatened to exterminate her? Another one to the fanon-made Marisa harem and now we finally arrived at the Moriya Shrine ok, we got a little bit of introduction to Kanako and Sanae through Ran, still in Yukari's shadow realm at their HQ - who Kanako is and where she came from , as well as a bit about Sanae being able to fulfill miracles now I really have the feeling Yukari is more favorable towards the newly established Moriya Shrine, since she gave them so much help in settling to Gensokyo, as well as the build-up towards this arc Kanako talking about how the MS will become the ultimate Shrine in Gensokyo - a speech full of ham, rather bombastic, and probably not too different from what Yuyuko, Remilia and Eirin have also said until now in their own final battles and now suddenly Hatate scene, spying the unfolding events from a bush EXCUSE ME WHAT THE FUCK!? so this was the whole plan of Yukari?! KILL/GET RID OF REIMU?! These are not the words of Kanako, they came from the gap... and now a 2 vs 1 battle and now we also had a brief introduction scene of Suwako Yukari, Ran, who are you supporting here? end of the episode, see you next time I did not notice this Kosuzu image in the outro Episode 16 - The Youkai Mountain Battle Incident (Part 3) looks like Suwako wants to see what is going on with the battle; none of her business, time to chill and now Aya joined next to Hatate Nice cut, Aya! Quite a bit of side-boob, I see... kappa drill machine out of nowhere... so much for it, we crashed into a rock Marisa has joined the fight and now back to the battle, this time Reimu & Marisa vs Kanako & Sanae ...and Sanae is down, in one fell swoop (or better said 1 Master Spark) - this was again, 5-10 seconds since Marisa appeared? and with Manpukujinja, you you will always end up wondering how torn off will the defeated character's clothes be Answer: quite a lot (don't worry, it gets worse for Sanae as she lays down defeated) and now to mirror a scene from the EoSD arc: Sanae doesn't want to give up, but I guess she is too exhausted and weakened... and that kids, was Stage 5 in Mountain of Faith time to see Suwako take her place in combat Yeah Sanae, we know... You are exhausted, so better go to sleep, and pray your clothes don't get even more torn off in next scene you get a close-up oh yeah, those two are still here: so now we are merging Stage 6 and Extra in one battle and now the giant mountain hands are here: end of the episode also yet another new outro, this time with Hina's theme Episode 17 - The Youkai Mountain Battle Incident (Part 4) we are finally at the conclusion episode for this arc, and the final episode overall even if not in combat, the clothes of Sanae have become even more torn off Just a little more, and we are going to witness the bare shrine maiden boobies if we keep the pace... everyone, from all realms, is witnessing this final battle for domination between shrines ok, now I see the thing with Yukari: as she was not introduced in the PBC episode, the authors took the liberty to rewrite her as the overarching antagonist of the series so I guess now it makes more sense why she would want Reimu dead? (just wanna rewatch the Yukari section from Megafrog's video, then I can get back to the episode) (personal intermission) and now back to the actual episode... yay, Reimu saved Marisa ...and now with the choreography, music and pure idea, we are doing a carbon copy of the Reimu & Marisa vs Remilia & Flandre battle, except with Kanako & Suwako; we even have the same Yuuhei Satellite song playing did we just suddenly go MoF Marisa B and turned her into a jet (I mean mini Hakkero propelled) projectile? ...and Kanako is gone now Reimu uses Fantasy Nature against Suwako - and game over; the two goddesses have been defeated Marisa loves posing: and now we keep on having a competition of torn clothes in the most fanservice areas of a woman's body Sanae already provided in the previous image(s). Aya is providing the under-boob missing piece of clothing, as well as some (only now noticed) skirt bits missing all the way up to the crotch and... that feminine part... (bonus for the fact Marisa really loves having pictures of her being taken) ...Kanako goes for something similar, but with an extra on both boobs (though if combined with some other shots, she also has a lot of her thighs exposed as the skirt got torn off as well); Suwako is lucky though, with only just some cuts on the sleeves. ok, and now I see we got the origin of the banquet from first episode (actually not really, it is a different banquet held months before SA); things have come full circle drinking competition between gods and Tengu oh, this is a different banquet the one from the EoSD arc was during winter, this one is... whenever MoF took place so I was right - Episodes 2-4 take place at the end of SA, with s tory placed much earlier in history oh, Yukari decided to show up (look who is here after all the mess she has caused; as it is implied she was the grand mastermind behind every incident up to that point in Gensokyo) and holy cow, it really was Yukari who stirred up all incidents until now in the series ...and now she is gone, just as soon as she arrived Suika to the rescue - she has called the entire EoSD, PCB, IN and PoFV characters to the banquet Welcome to that part of the cast that merely existed and this is how we ended the story: now we have yet another new outro this episode could have worked nicely as a tie-up to the series... if only the did not tease a lot of other stuff, with this episode's post-credits screen teasing yet another arc (most likely Scarlet Weather Rhapsody) Conclusion: PLEASE, END THIS ALREADY! I don't know if it is from the fact I have watched 2 full arcs in one day, the fact the show has problems or that I have lost enjoyment the further I was going, but I am honestly happy it is over. This arc could have been a very good point to end the show, given it has been running since 2011 and the fact we have been building for over a decade just to get to this final showdown between the Hakurei and Moriya Shrine, but I guess they really want to keep producing it. I am done, at least for a while. AND THIS IS IT... the end of my less-than-24-hours-long marathon on watching Memories of Phantasm (well, 48 hours if also counting the writing of this review) this was... something 17 episodes, yet it could have very easily have fit into at most 12 episodes we had 4 arcs (EoSD, PoFV, IN and MoF), and 2 individual episodes (PCB and Hisoutensoku), unevenly distributed (it became extremely bloated towards the end; it became very tiring to go through both IN and MoF in one go) Conclusion Despite all my frustration with some of the moments, I would say that overall, the show has not been that much of an awful experience as some depict it. There is however one big problems about Memories of Phantasm. Not so big about the show itself, as much as about the way it was received and how people perceive it. Ever since its release, a lot of people have pushed MoP as basically the "ambassador" of Touhou anime. Even if this is a fan-made, unofficial product. For some, it might be the first contact with Touhou, which often strikes the "wHaT aNiMe iS tOuHoU?" question among groups of unaware people. It is a fan-made series, projecting the views of the fans on the series up to that point. Therefore, not the most accurate depiction of the game. And it really did not seek out to be that. Just like any other Touhou fanwork, it was looking to envision the way its authors perceived the wonderful and fascinating universe of Gensokyo. Even if their vision includes a lot of fanservice and big sized boobs... However, compared to any other fanworks, MoP has become a punching bag for the fandom when it comes to "everything wrong about the Touhou fans" (just like Touhou LostWord has become nowadays). But hey, let's look at the bright side of things. Maybe this series actually made at least one person actually become curious about what Touhou is, and from there we may have earned a dedicated fan. For every misguided, "filthy casual" bunch, there should be at least that one gem that stays with us and helps in building a better community. Or maybe am I being too optimistic? Basically, in the lack of an official anime adaptation (and not that we will ever get one), Memories of Phantasm has been forced into becoming the figurehead for Touhou animations. And it is hard to blame, especially when the overall visual quality of a product that was not created by a professional studio can actually pass as the product of a big company (seriously, I really love the art style of MoP). (bonus section, put into spoilers just to make things shorter in case this is already too long of a read) Megafrog (I swear, I will link his video in just a moment) has pointed out very well 3 ways in which nobody really managed to understand the anime: Yes, this series is a mess. Yes, it has a lot of unnecessary and awkward fanservice used only just to patch and take attention from bad writing. Yes, a lot of things may not really make sense, and could be better executed. But does it deserve all the hate it tends to get from the seasoned Touhou veterans? At least for the first 7 episodes, it really tries to make its own thing with all it gets. And sometimes, we even get some good episodes, or at least pieces of an episode going well in a sea of dumpster fire. If we are to give credit to Memories of Phantasm for something, that would be how long it lasted. Many, if not most Touhou fan-made anime projects died out as soon as they appeared. Every now and often, you will see that sporadic PV for a "soon to come" series, only for you to find out the PV was from 10 years ago and nothing actually came besides that PV. The only other two (maybe three, if you also count the 3D animations released every few years by minusT) competitors when it comes to a fan-made Touhou anime that went for more than a PV: Summer Day's Dream and Sealed Esoteric History. Those two got a few episodes, but they are even more of a niche product, only known by their own specific public. To me, MoP is just a proof that there is possible to make a Touhou animated series, and actually have it survive for more than a decade, or at least long enough until it becomes a long-lasting name in the community - "you either die early as a hero, or live long enough to become the villain" as some would say. As to why I have not done this a proper review: this has already been done, and much better than I ever could by Megafrog. His video, released mere weeks ago, was my main drive to finally give a shot at writing this thread. Without him, it would have probably taken me even more to come up with it, quite likely leaving the project for the next year or so. He has covered the series very well in a 1 hour long review, with a specific focus on episodes 1-7 (as the rest afterwards copy the EoSD arc formula to some various degree). As a bonus, he even went further and actually made some research into the media posts of the doujin group, uncovering some rather interesting things about Manpukujinja and the people behind all this project. It is definitely a video i would recommend watching if you have 1 hour to spare, or just want to have something to listen to in the background when busy. This is probably the longest thread I have written this year. I was not expecting to come up with this kind of a monster all of a sudden, but I guess here we are now. Th video I promised so much I will link: This has been CountVonNumenor, and see you until the end of this year with at least one more thread, then an important one on the New Year Eve. See you, space cowboy

It's been way too long from my previous post, so I think I should increase the pace. Therefore, I might be doing a double-feature today depending on how much content there is: Character introduction: Noriko Kurosawa General information (curtesy to the Amagami wiki): Noriko Kurosawa (黒沢 典子 Kurosawa Noriko) is a minor character of Amagami SS+ plus. Appearance: Noriko has short dark brown hair, brown eyes and an average size for her age. Personality: Not much is known about Noriko, but it is shown that she will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. She is shown to also be quite manipulative as she managed to get votes by pulling strings and using her fathers influence. She has some sort of rivalry with Tsukasa Ayatsuji as shown in the student council president election as she wanted Junichi Tachibana to be her vice president the same as Tsukasa. It is suggested that she has a crush on Junichi as she confessed and almost kissed him, but it is unclear if it was genuine love or just to get at Tsukasa. It is revealed that she actually likes Junichi to the point where she broadly reveals that she will use any methods to steal him away from Tsukasa, regardless whether it is morally correct or not. Age: 17-18 (new section) Role in the anime: Noriko played an important role in Tsukasa Ayatsuji's arc where she joined the presidential election for the student council and became a big rival for Tsukasa. She also assigned Junichi Tachibana as her vice president the same as Tsukasa who is dating Junichi. After losing many votes and losing to Tsukasa, she attempted a last ditch effort to raise initial votes by planning out a trap in which she confesses to Junichi an attempts to kiss him in front of Tsukasa to cause tension between their relationship. However, she saw through her trap and dragged Junichi away giving him a scolding for falling for it. After losing the election, Noriko is seen with her group of friends sulking and then shouting out the window that she will take Junichi from Tsukasa. And now for the art gallery: Illustration by woori (source: Pixiv - link does not work) Illustration by wiori (source: Pixiv - another illustration with restricted access) Illustration by takemi kaoru (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/29626627) Illustration by wiori (source: Pixiv - restricted access image) Illustration by wiori (source: Pixiv - restricted access image) Illustration by wiori (source: Pixiv - I think this account may be completely restricted) Illustration by wiori (source: Pixiv) lllustation by wiori (source: Pixiv) Illustration by santa (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/24393402) Character introduction: Kisato Romeo [we were supposed to have one more character in here; however, he seems to be such a cryptid that not even Google wants to show me anything related to him] End thoughts Looks like we are done with the characters list given by Danbooru. I did have to scratch the barrel quite a bit for now, and there have been some shortcomings with the final two characters. One may wonder: where have I been recently? It's very simple - I arrived home very tired last Wednesday from my long trip (so did not have the time to write anything), then I have spent 4 days on the whole issue about writing the Touhou Memories of Phantasm review after rewatching the whole anime, then Christmas came. Anyway, there is just one thing on which I would normally end this. We have gone through everyone revolving around the protagonist, yet have not touched the subject of the protagonist himself, Junichi Tachibana. Once I cover Junichi, I really wonder if I should stop here or keep writing. If I were to continue the character introductions, I would go into the two related works that still have some connection to Amagami: Kimi Kiss (another dating sim by Enterbrain; spiritual predecessor of Amagami) and Seiren (Original anime set in the same universe, nine years after Amagami SS). Both of these can turn into their own rabbit wholes, better to be kept in here however.

Danke! She looks quite pretty in the scuba dive outfit. Now, on with today's character introduction. Character introduction: Yukari Ayatsuji General information (curtesy to the Amagami wiki): Yukari Ayatsuji (絢辻 縁 Ayatsuji Yukari) is a minor character of Amagami SS. She is an older sister of Tsukasa Ayatsuji. Appearance: Yukari has long black hair that has a somewhat similar hairstyle to Tsukasa Ayatsuji and black eyes. Personality: Yukari is a kind, easygoing and somewhat light headed girl who always smiling, but she also has a nice and aloof personality, which is something that Tsukasa Ayatsuji often dislikes about. Age: 21 And now for the art gallery: Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/97953033) Illustration by mobu (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/88174470) Illustration by danieri (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/72273640) Illustration by santa (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/30655896) Illustration by sanshita (source: dead link) Illustration by miyakaze (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/10785491) End thoughts: Huh, who would have though Yukari and Tsukasa are sisters (this is a Touhou centered-forum, after all, so I had to make the joke remark)? Still, she is quite interesting. If we got used to brothers/sisters of the protagonists to be younger until now, Yukari is one of those who is older. Yeah, she really does resemble her sister. Next time, we are dealing with Noriko Kurosawa.