CountVonNumenor

Basically a continuation to this thread, but from a different angle. Shifting the focus from official material to fanon material. This started as a simple question, but now I am slowly losing the flare to write it. However, I will try end it with whatever I can still salvage out of my mind. So, let's start. Why are Touhou fans so horny? Looking online, old discussions have always placed Touhou as number #2 or #3 online in terms of the amount of questionable or explicit content. And a good chunk of it seems to be coming from Japan alone. The brief discussion with SasaMisa and Turbonator in general chat served a warmup for what will be going on here. As i was saying. This whole idea to question bugged me since a few days ago. A simple walk through Twitter took me down a whole rabbit whole of questionable and explicit content based on a single artist's retweets. Basically, from a single person, you could end up creating an entire network of artists, most of them from JP. Before I am fully losing coherence, I will just expose my points as a series of ideas: I guess "porn/sex sells" like the saying has always been - I was told by a friend I would be extremely surprised how much an artist can win out of two things: porn/hentai and furry art why is there so much questionable and explicit material about child-looking characters? (not just in Touhou, but as a question in general) - I am sorry to put it so bluntly, but if Danbooru for example was to add a couple new tags, those two would be "child porn" and "fetish" why are we craving such kind of content so much? what is the appeal to such content? why is this so much of a Japan associated thing? At least from my perspective as a European, that sort of thing is utterly bizarre. If a convention or any sort of event was taking place here, with public of all ages, selling smut of any kind would have turned into a public outrage. However, when it comes to stuff like Comiket et al, it seems lie you can very easily sell such content, together with the whole concept of having doujins fully dedicated to just drawing hentai of that subject out of any franchise online, how did Touhou gain so much popularity in terms of such content? is it just because of the almost total freedom ZUN has given in terms of fan materials? did you ever had that kind of weird moment and sensation when discovering a piece of fanart you like and and is perfectly SFW actually has am NSFW version too? it feels very odd if you ask me, especially if you were only used to the safe one, and it was something you really liked despite not having a clear source for the claim Touhou is in top 3 when it comes to the amount of smut material dedicated to any franchise, i do have a source for something else - apparently, Touhou fan art is the one the gave birth to "Ahegaokin" (and more or less the meme too) through a Patchouli image; at least that is what Know Your Meme says going from memes to stats, I have alt least two sources - one for which I need to credit @Tenkko and one I found by chance; it comes in regards to the the amount of Touhou fan content that goes into the unsafe area on both Pixiv and the more infamous R34 (wish we also had a Danbooru/Gelbooru stat, as you could find a lot more there too) (possibly severely outdated) R34 stats from last year in regards to Touhou content (no PC-98 stats though) Also the Pixiv stats as offered by Tenkko + a few comments on my side Also finally, there is this little thing (I cannot believe I had to rely on XE3G weeb for the info, despite how much I hate him as the creator of the "I want mommy" meme format and basically a huge liar). This is, at least from reading the comments, what happens when you let a hentai doujin try to do a safe-for-work project (game is Touhou Shoujo - Tale of Beautiful Memories) The comments, knowing this dude and the kind of audience he brings in, are not so much of a surprise. Honestly, I am not so sure why I am bothering so much anymore. I only end up looking like a failed crusader trying to have a failed fight against something I cannot defeat. But I think the simples thing would just be to sit down, relax and embrace the fandom with whatever it brings in, safe or not, in good or poor taste. But I am still curious though. It is almost pathological for me to ask questions about stuff I do not understand or might have a different opinion about. So yeah, this is the new direction in which the original thread is going. Since this is also basically some sort of fanservice, just of the more innuendo type.

Welcome back. Indeed, today we started the new banner featuring Nazrin and Nue. There is still no sign of Kogasa though. Maybe she will appear together with Raiko? (more about the taiko tsukumogami later). I am not not very interested in the SFES Reisen, so I can just hoard more SCs to recover the losses from PCB Yukari + Alice. Yeah, that stage looks a little too much like pain. I am not even sure what is that prize thing, and how it works. If it is indeed a new item used for the already existing material currencies. That is probably the most annoying part right now. Especially since I do not have ANY of the required cards (no copy or too few copies) to fill in the characters I have, especially the newer ones. And without those, they might be useless, or at least not be able to do their full potential. An the fact there are no easier to obtain card alternatives, even if not as good, feels criminal to me. This is the photo I was talking about with 24 MLB Witch of Scarlet Dreams story cards Alright, time to switch a little bit towards some more person things, followed by the news roundup. In terms of personal experience with the game, I finally acquired my first GCs costume. It took me 480 of them, but I finally have the Iku winter clothes. I was thinking about getting that outfit, and was ready to wait until winter. However, with the event rerun, I had the chance to acquire it now. All i can say is that it looks adorable. Now, for the roundup. Looking through the r/touhou_lostword community, a few posts have caught my attention. Some of them are bringing interesting info, others are stats, and others are just humorous with a layer of irony. Lost Word Global has skipped two events by now, one of them twice seemingly. One of them has received some photos of new outfits we have lost, while the other one could have made the Epilogue story of the Masked Dance Rebellion event make more sense. We were apparently supposed to get an event related to the Prismriver sisters and their marching band outfits, and probably would have gone into how they ended up playing in a band with Raiko (this probably would have also given us the Raiko banner, which pisses me off quite a bit we did not get). I wonder if we will ever get these two events, or how long will it take until. Meanwhile we are having fun with repeating the Christmas-New Year event at the beginning of summer. Cannot fully complain though, as I got the Iku outfit out of this ordeal. We have 4 SFES banners going on right now, out of which two are reruns. The thread I will link is 4 days old, so some of the stuff no longer applies. However, I do agree with the general opinion. From Anniversary 0.5 onwards, it feel as if the emphasis was on adding as many SFES units as possible, while general units did not get too much attention. Apparently so much that we are behind with the schedule. The monthly list of "characters not yet in the game" has returned. This time, I have noticed there is also a full list of all the alt characters (playable or just encounters of all sorts), for both Global and JP. The alts list is as it follows: Alts If a character is italicized then it means they only appear in cutscenes A universe (Retro): Reimu Hakurei (Scarlet/EoSD), Marisa Kirisame (Scarlet/EoSD), Sakuya Izayoi (Scarlet/EoSD), Youmu Konpaku (Cherry/PCB), Reisen Udongein Inaba (Eternal/IN), Aya Shameimaru (Flower/PoFV), Byakuren Hijiri (Fantastic/UFO), Cirno (Scarlet/EoSD), Yukari Yakumo (Cherry/PCB), Alice Margatroid (Cherry/PCB), Sanae Kochiya (Wind/MoF), Kanako Yasaka (Wind/MoF), Nitori Kawashiro (Wind/MoF), Toyosatomimi no Miko (TD), Patchouli Knowledge (Scarlet/EoSD), Hong Meiling (Scarlet/EoSD), Ran Yakumo (Cherry/PCB), Eirin Yagokoro (Eternal/IN), Suwako Moriya (Wind/MoF), Yuyuko Saigyouji (Cherry/PCB) B universe (Hifuu Club Chapter 1/Mechas): Marisa Kirisame (Enchanter), Reimu Hakurei (Shaman), Youmu Konpaku (Gardener), Sanae Kochiya (Oracle), Sakuya Izayoi (Servant), Reisen Udongein Inaba (Soldier), Watatsuki no Yorihime (Kannagi), Watatsuki no Toyohime (Otohime), Reisen (Rabbit 2) *, Sagume Kishin (Azusa), Kaguya Houraisan (Nayotake), Junko (Terror), Reisen Undongein Inaba (Rabbit 1) E universe (Hifuu Club Chapter 2/Scarlet Devil Mansion): Remilia Scarlet (Little Devil Mistress), Flandre Scarlet (Hunter Vampire), Sakuya Izayoi (Hunter), Patchouli Knowledge (Mage), Hong Meiling (Gatekeeper), Koakuma (Butler) F universe (Main Story Chapter 3.5): Reimu Hakurei (God Summoning Shaman) * , Yukari Yakumo (Tiny Great Youkai) R universe (Main Story Chapter 3): Youmu Konpaku (Mysterious Sword Master), Yuyuko Saigyouji (Little Ghost Mistress) Z universe (Main Story Chapter 2): Marisa Kirisame (Witch of Scarlet Dreams) Unknown/Miscellaneous universe(s): Reimu Hakurei (PC-98), Marisa Kirisame (PC-98) Sunny Milk (Maid) (Could be apart of the A universe, but I have no idea so she’s down here), Sanae Kochiya (Yellow/Red) Note: God Summoning Shaman Reimu and Rabbit 2 Reisen are playable in JP [the Reisen alts are now in Global too - original text is 1 week old by now] This little comment made my day better, especially because it is is true in regards to what we saw, or at least the impression created as of yet by MC/"Lossie" Basically a continuation to this one Also, I can probably say the same thing about this meme: Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou_lostword/comments/uwjfla/ufes_who_needs_that_im_building_an_army_of_sunny/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 I have also launched a new thread on the subreddit in the hope of creating a retrospective of this one year since the global version of the game was released

Finally, we have access to the 3 CDs and their music on YouTube. Well, not though an official upload, but probably the closest thing we will get to that. Especially since on Spotify it looks like only the main CDs get featured, without the limited singles, compilations and other specials. LIMITED SINGLES season 3 STACK - 第19回博麗神社例大祭会場限定おまけCD STACK - ヤムヤムヤミー By this point, I think Ridzuto has all the Akatsuki Records songs on their channel.

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

Personally, I understood this whole affair as whether you are using a character either because they are strong and fit the meta/what is needed to beating the stages, or because you like the character. Therefore, useful in quest challenge vs using the character simply because you like her.

Let's be honest now. It is not as if most of the fans that found and joined this community in the past year only know about Touhou due to gacha games like Lost Word, without having any knowledge about the actual games, publications or at least other parts of the fandom. I just hope Touhou will not be treated as "just another gacha game", since this looks to be becoming an increasing concern for some of the people who have been fans of this series from before these games were released. Or how some of them say, "I have been a Touhou fan for more years than how old you are, gacha player". (not that I a in a much better situation; I've been into Touhou since October-November 2020, when LW was already half a year old on the JP server, and there would be half a year more until Global would be released)

Welcome back. Until now, I did get Miko in the forever prayer, but went further in the idea of getting one of the EoSD retros. Today I need to spin the wheel again, but I am not sure if I wanna remove the Okina I got yesterday. She looks cute, but I am not sure about her usefulness. I am honestly feeling quite hesitant about this whole rush Global has been going through in the past half a year. Blonde Reisen is a new record for speedrunning a character from JP to Global, record that was initially held by EoSD Reimu. After all, Global is a game that was released 1 year after the JP version, so there is a need to recover quite a lot. In a way, it is not a bad thing, as it would make it easier to manage things if they are synchronized. Otherwise, it means a lot of content (including banners) will be rushed. How is the atmosphere in there? Is it as bad are people make it be? Alright, now for the units part. There is this whole debate i general about whether you should go for waifu or for meta. From what you have seen, many seem to be meta slaves, who want to keep up with the new strongest stuff. Which in a way is fair, as the game seems to favor these very strong units with some of the new stuff added. Which brings me to a few new gripes I have developed recently with this game: I might be very dumb, but I simply cannot win any of the EX stages; I might need better strategy, and more suited units for each kind. Even if I have the units needed, I am lacking the story cards needed. If you go by the NextNinja guide in terms of what story cards to equip your units with, you will notice a lot of those are cards that are hard to obtain the part that annoys me the most is how much you have to grind for those cards, as they have rather low drop rate (Witch of Scarlet Dream, Mysterious Sword Master, the Okina story card etc). I tried my luck recently at getting a few more WoSD cards, but in 160 battles at x4 drop rate, I got 1 SINGLE CARD. Great... when I asked other gacha players how they get their cards, they said they just keep a duplicate version of that character for "purple-heart farming" (aka worst level of relationship with a 2hu in the game). But what really made me feel sick was seeing a photo from another user flexing with 24 MLB copies of WoSD (this means the person managed to get 120 copies of that card). Which I am not lucky at all. In the case of the MSM card, it is even worse, as it is obtained from a 3 waves battle, and those battles last forever. I do not want to keep unit copies for exhausting them, nor am I too used to staying and grind for hours just to get a stupid card. However, I feel this is become harder and harder to do without those special cards, as you are not presented any other, easier to obtain alternatives. Besides, my PCB Yukari, PCB Alice and Murasa need a story card with HEAVY Bullet bonus in their Last Word, yet I cannot find any alternative, easier to obtain that the Okina cord that requires you to farm a stage against a 100K HP mini-Yuyuko and 2 HP bars Back Youmu which brings me to the next point - is it just me, or some of those new mechanics to make battles more difficult feel a little cheap? Like introducing multiple HP bars ("Spell Gauge") and the Binding mechanic (you can no longer use abilities, barriers, boost or spread/focus shot for 5 turns unless you have a character with the ability to remove those binds - until now, this ability I have only seen at SFES Toyohime) I have been advancing through the Scarlet Devil Tower, but now I am stuck at Floor 21. If only there wasn't a Tanuki who applies +2 barriers to the enemy team almost every turn. I really need to get rid of that Tanuki as soon as possible, but afterwards I have to deal with Yukari as well. Currently, my team revolves around SFES Toyohime + 2 more units that have fitting elemental breaks. However, looking at stuff like Floor 120 or 210. with characters that have HP bars in the millions of points, multiple HP bars and binding galore, it feels a bit too much. last but not least, Hakugyoku Arena, Phantasm Stage. That thing is so annoying, especially when your units barely do 10% of their normal damage while the bosses have their HP increased 10 times. I was told that even with 6 fully upgraded SFES units ("bricked" as they see to call fully upgraded units), Phantasm would take you 30-40 rounds to finish. I do not think I have enough abilities, spell cards and patience for something like that... I feel like I might be too much of a casual player, mostly focusing on playing with his favorite girls from Touhou. But maybe I am even less than that, because others who say are also casual players have even better results. Like lots of resources (seen an account with 10K Seal Crystals, all allegedly coming from f2p, and still had lots of good upgraded units + dupes), or almost everyone who had a banner until now. I was also asked why I do not upgrade all my characters. My answer is simple: I just do not care about them. Most of those that have the lease upgrades are also the ones that score the lowest in my sorter. Especially since I focused more on upgrading the waifu ones, since I wanted to have m favorites perform well. But now, with the way stuff is being added, I am getting worried they are becoming irrelevant, and have no place in a team. You actually made me curious about Parsee too. As for my personal list, I am still waiting for Raiko (she got a gorgeous costume for the music event right now, as she is part of the band with the Prismrivers), and whenever UM will bring its cast into the game (really looking for Tenkyuu, Tsukasa and Sannyo)

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

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:

Roadmap for the next week, following the maintenance tomorrow (19th May 2022). We are getting the "Blonde Reisen" SFES, and most of the things that started this week will keep going as they are.

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.

Yeah, it is actually quite a good nickname. The other nickname I can remember from this game, but used for MC, is "Lossie". It was used both in the prologue by Yukari, and in the Hifuu storyline by Maribel (coincidence? I think not). But yeah, I would like to se the other SFES getting something similar, in order for us to understand how they got in our service. But I get we cannot get it yet due to the stories not being complete yet (Hakugyouku Arena needs one more act, and both Lunar War stories seem to have ended in some sort of cliffhanger; the SDM story is also a bit in limbo, and would definitely need some explanation how are we able to summon Remilia and Flan). For something different, now that we are into the Anniversary and first Forever Prayer (there will be one more once this one ends). For that, I will just repost here my question from r/touhou_lostword: I know, it has been discussed quite a lot... but I am not sure what to pick at this Forever Prayer. If I am to go by the "waifu > meta" route, I already have all the units I looking for. If I am to go for the meta, I am not sure what to pick. I already have Suika, Tenshi, Iku, Hecatia and Yuuka (also coinciding with the waifu part), as well as two SFES units. For this edition of the FP, I was thinking to get Toyohime, Miko or one of the EoSD retros. I got Miko in Day 2, and ever since I am not decided whether to keep her or go for something new. I mean she looks cute and all, but I am not too impressed of the elements she carries. besides, I was looking to slow down a bit the pace of getting new characters, as I got a few recently and cannot keep up with upgrading them. (gonna get back to that a bit later). As for the miscellaneous stuff, it is more like a round-up of questions and things I have realized after playing Lost Word for a year now: may or may not be a mistake on my side, but I have not spent a single God Cube since I started the game. Therefore, after this Everybody Winds campaign, I will have 4K of them; I have not found yet a costume to be 100% sure I want, and did not upgrade the dojo or school - I have seen how much emphasis is put here on the idea of using GCs for those upgrades, but until now I have gone quite well with the default number of assets I am quite curious when will PCB Yukari and Alice get a rerun; since they are separate banners, even if I would like to get them (3K SCs to spare), the fact they come separate is putting me off a bit, and was thinking when would they get a rerun with maybe both characters in the same banner like we got recently with other retro units on a similar note, any idea what the next retros coming to Global might be? I do not really have a particular one I am looking for, but curiosity is always a thing in the end, what characters from your Top 10 list do you already have, and for which are you still waiting for to be brought to Global? In my case, I already have Akyuu, Eiki, Youmu, Yuuka, Mayumi, Okuu, Junko, Hecatia and Iku, and I am still waiting for Raiko and Tenkyuu (whenever the cast of Touhou 18 will come into Lost Word). I would have also added Maribel and Renko, but I do not think they will get past the NPC status. What makes this even better is the one answer I got yet - Sunny Milk or Cirno. Jokes on you, I already have those two

Yeah, now with the way Act 3 ended, I really wonder how could they drag it even more for a whole more act. But after that, good question in regards to what Chapter 4 might be. I will probably play it too, and I hope the story will remain engaging (and not just a big cluster like Chapter 3 Act 3 has been). Anyway, have you started the new event story? The one with the band has come a bit earlier than I expected (yesterday instead of late May), so at least we got something new to do. As for the Scarlet Devil Tower story, I was confused, and misunderstood. sodaodaoda more than likely referred to the 3 stages + story with the Witch of Scarlet Dreams. What I liked about that story is that it actually makes sense, and explains a little how you become able to access Alterisa as a friend. I wish more stories like these were made for the other SFES units, just that you could get a bit of connection and sense in regards to how you end up getting them besides meta reasons like "game wants new content to make money from". The story is simple, cute, and actually had quite a bit of fun when the two Marisa met (what do they do - let's have a demonstration fight to see how the other performs). As said, I really wanna see more of that in the future. Also about the roadmap for Fantasy Rebirth, this is what we know as of now:

I am still in the process of getting my favs, as I still need Raiko and eventually Tenkyuu (whenever the UM cast will appear in LW). Until then, there is a bit of uncertainty of what to do. I have 2810 Seal Crystals right now, yet no interest in the SFES banner ongoing (Hifuu Remilia and Flandre, Mysterious Sword Master). I was looking out of curiosity for when PCB Yukari and Alice are coming (13th and 15th of May), but I do not like the fact the two are separate banners. Plus, I do not really want any new SFES unit in my collection as I already have two of them (Lunar War Reimu and Toyohime), unless I want some dupes for MSM (have her stuck at lvl 70, and wanna save my Divine Paper Dolls for later). You mean the Scarlet Devil Tower challenge that comes every now and then? I never really got too much into it (I am only at Stage 11), so better get a bit more work once it comes back on the 19th of May. I have not seen too much story of it yet outside the intro cutscene. That story has become so messy as a whole once they added Act 3. I think all of us wanted that one to be the conclusion of the story, we though it might finally get over in the final stages, but then NOPE, it ends in a cliffhanger for adding a new chapter. It does indeed fell a lot like "everyone is here", randomly throwing in characters left and right. There are just so many you end up losing track who is who and on what side. At one point, we literally something you could describe as a three-way battle that felt a little bit pointless. I just hope Act 4 will be the conclusion of this story, as I fell it dragged for way too long.

UPDATE We have received the chart for the First Anniversary (ft Dark Myon Fumo). Let's see what it gives us: new "Everybody Wins" campaign; this time, we are getting 600 God Cubes and 50 Seal Crystals Forever Prayer (Part 1 - it was not mentioned clearly why it is "part 1", there might be a new one back-to-back with it once it's over) - this time, we also get retro Reimu, Marisa and Sakuya Flandre Scarlet Ultra FES, just as the one for her sister ends rerun for the Mysterious Sword Master Ultra FES Lucky Bag banner until 27th of May PCB Yukari and PCB Alice retro alts getting their own banner (the two are separate banners) Story Card Collection banner Lunar War Collection banner Challenge Event - Witch of Scarlet Dreams Fire EX is coming back SP cost per battle reduced by 50% and x4 XP and drop rate for story levels Errand XP x3 Anniversary costumes available Apparently for joining the LW Discord you are getting 5 Seal Crystals Hakugyouku Arena Phantasm the already existent Festival Collection will continue some very interesting login bonuses, including 1 Normal and 1 Divine Paper Doll (starting with 27th of May) New event - Masked Dancer Rebellion, coming with related costumes and banner (Benben, Yatsuhashi, Mai, Satono and Kokoro - no Mystia or Kyouko sadly) Fantasy Rebirth 2.0 you can play a Mirrors of Rebirth stage 6 instead of 3 times a day x3 School XP Week Login bonus for the above-mentioned event

Yet another News Roundup (looks like I am doing plenty of those nowadays): Global has revealed as part of the ost recent interview what some of the things we will get at the 1 Year Anniversary and following few months in terms of content, gifts and Fantasy Rebirth costumes; discussion on the topic from r/touhou_lostword Scarlet Devil Tower returns on the 19th of May since the Dev Letter was shared enough time, everyone got 3 free prayers (well, at least the equivalent of it, so 15 Seal Crystals) Besides the big news on the anniversary, there doesn't seem to be anything major going on for Global. As for JP, they still have ongoing the Blue Reimu Epic FES banner.

We finally have some confirmation in terms of one of the CDs. Might be old news by now, but only a few minutes ago did I stumble upon it https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/ヤムヤムヤミー Also the Flandre song is part of an album with 16 songs on it: LIMITED SINGLES season 3 https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/LIMITED_SINGLES_season3 One thing I was not aware of though was this one limited CD: https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/第19回博麗神社例大祭会場限定おまけCD

For another news roundup (I will update this whenever something new or interesting is happening on either JP or Global) the community is in the middle of a trend of posting their home screen stats and favorite character set there next JP SFES will be something I would call "Blonde Reisen" (I really do not know her actual name) discussion continue on the question of Blue Reimu, as she has become the new best characters in the (unofficial) JP Tier List and a new tier has been added just to acomodate how strong she is

Ever since I downloaded the game, I have been logging in every day. I did not skip a single day. I guess it might be indeed something addressed towards new and retuning players.

How did you get the Kourindou Roulette today? When I logged in, there was nothing. Or maybe there's something like you are new to this game/account and got it as a formality?

Wait, you say that that mods and admin team for LW Global is more active than for any other gacha game that was brought from Japan? Also yeah, many times JP creators seem to only care about their local community, although I do feel like I have this pinions about most of the Touhou fan stuff created in Japan, and not just games like Lost Word. Also, by "big freebies" you mean how generous the game has been recently? I think I have already expressed my opinion on the matter, and why I think this whole attitude of the game seems a bit fishy and questionable to me.

Alright, so for a bit more of news roundup: there seems to be a massive controversy among fans and in discussion groups about the release of Blue Reimu. Problems range from lazy design and animations to the insanely poor rate to gein her, the whole new Epic FES tier, the fact Blue Reimu needs a completely new kind of paper doll from the norm and Divine types (apparently, JP players received at least 1 of those new papers), and the fact this banner does not contain the Pity mechanic there has been a bit of discussion about the whole problem of powercreep among the newly introduced characters ZUN seems to have been invited for the 2 years anniversary of JP server Besides the Mayumi and Yachie banner, there seems to be nothing else important coming in the following week in Global Here are 3 discussions on some of the ongoing controversies I will report again with a status update when something new or interesting will be discussed at the community level

Looks like we are actually gonna get Mayumi starting from today, 5th of May, together with Yachie in a banner. Guess there will be some maintenance beforehand?