Touhou Mecha: Hell's Rising
Genre: Kinetic Visual Novel
Release Date: October 7th, 2013
By: Dai-Sukima Dan
Source: Dai-Sukima Dan Blog
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Chireiden and Parsia, two territories deep within Gensoukyo's underground, are at war. In order to turn the tide of the war, the hell raven Utsuho Reiuji travels to the Remains of Blazing Hell to attain the power of the sun god Yatagarasu. This power will allow her to use the AM Yatagarasu, a mecha with amazing power. However, the sun god isn't the only thing waiting at the Remains of Blazing Hell…
I have only read up to the end of Chapter One, but that chapter was a great introduction! It firstly does a good job introducing the familiar characters and their relations by briefly going over their role in this Gensokyo x Mecha setting.
These three “magicians” are part of a mercenary group, who are currently going over their new job in Old Hell. From their brief exchange are their roles understood, and thus the reader can make comparisons between the original character, seeing the familiar personality while acknowledging what been added to the character in light of their new setting. Through these brief introductions, the nature of how mecha fits into Gensokyo is defined.
Speaking of mechs, I have to comment that this visual novel employs animation in a couple of scenes with a good dose of sound effects. While the animations are simple movements of sprites, they help add agency by being visuals that play themselves out in addition to the writing.
Lastly, I would like to say that this visual novel went through some polishing. The writing of this chapter was neat, with no notable grammar issues or format issues to pick through. The UI design fits with the mecha setting. And there is good use of scene transitions that continue the flow of action. The amount of polish for a Touhou fan work really helps to standout along Touhou fan works especially for a work published back in the early 2010s: it does not look too outdated.
Before closing this entry, I must warn that there are only two chapters made as this visual novel was unfinished. Though it shouldn’t be an issue when looking at the unique world Touhou Mecha brings to the table, but if one wants a visual novel that is more complete, then try checking out Touhou: Fading Illusion. It is currently in early access, but development has remained timely about their updates, placing them further in releasing a large-scale Touhou visual novel. If that ever releases, then it will be a good day to be a reader of Touhou literature if the quality of Touhou Mecha is any indicator of what a larger Touhou visual novel will look like.