CountVonNumenor

First of all, thank you for the reply! Watching the series in one go has been a very interesting experience. As for the lore explanations, it is finally more clear. So thank you again. There are quite a few things I tend to forget, given how vast Touhou can be at times. Again, even more lore explanations . I really did not know about the mechanic from SWR and Hisoutensoku, so that is quite new info for me. We should not forget that besides Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, we have had both Subterranean Animism and UFO teased for almost a decade now (without any sign those plotlines would actually come to be realized). Especially with SA, where we already had like at least an entire minute of solid battle animation. Again, it is the weird order in which the episodes have been created, as well as possibly a lack of general direction that ended up with us having the teasers for 3 arcs, while the creation team is not even sure what are they going to do next. In some cases, it looks as if they already had something planned, but suddenly changed their mind and did something else. Again, case in point with all the footage for SA. I wonder how things will actually develop in the following years, and in what direction will the series go. Until now, we had Touhou 7, 6, 9, 12.3, 8 and 10 (in this order), with some decent gaps in between. As a bonus, perhaps I should work on a timeline based on all the materials from the show as of yet just to see "the journey of Sanae", from her getting dropped into the setting to the resolution of the MoF incident (use the actual order of the games and put the data together), as depicted in the Manpukujinja-verse.

"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

I was right, we really did get a Christmas gift. And it's in the form of this adorable chibi Marisa song (also Touhou 18.5, so that's new)

Thank you, I never knew about Doremy getting involved. I knew about Heca an Junko being there, but not Doremy

1. KISIDA KYODAN & THE AKEBOSI ROCKETS - Beautiful Diver This song has been quite a nice way to open the tournament. It is rather rare to see an arrangement based on A World of Nightmares Never Seen Before (the only other one I know is Sadomasochism from Akatsuki Records), and this one is quite a welcome addition. The only nitpick I can come up with, in the lack of a musical culture, is one that basically should not really be addressed. I found it odd that a song associated with Hecatia had the background image containing Doremy Sweet. Is there something I am missing? Is the Extra stage of LoLK happening in the Dream World? No matter what, I will rate this song 8.5/10 2. Boga - The Doll Maker of București (EoSD Arrange) This one has been an interesting pick. Initially, I have listened to this song at the recommendation of @sodaodaoda last summer, and I quickly fell in love with it. I am not really the greatest fan of EoSD (don't get me wrong, I still like the game, but for me PCB creates a greater nostalgia as it was my first direct contact with the games), but I appreciate the direction of the music from that era. Therefore, combining the unique music approach of the EoSD/DiPP era with a theme from PCB, it sure felt like something I really wanted to share. Also, is it wrong that I may greatly prefer The Doll Maker of București over Doll Judgement? Like last time, I will not offer an official rate of my own upload in order to be devoid of bias. But if I have to give it a grade, I would give it a 9/10 purely on the feelings it creates for me. If a song can make you interested in a character, then it means the song has something special. 3. TATAMI STUGIWO - Dance of the Poisoned Candy I really appreciate the classical music opening. And then we are slowly getting into the Touhou section of the song... Personally, I am extremely unfamiliar with Medicine's theme (but to be honest, it is pretty much the same about most themes from PoFV besides Yuuka, Komachi and Eiki's themes). But is always nice to explore new things. And from what I see, the classic music (correct me if I am wrong, but is it from The Nutcracker?) combined very nicely with the PoFV theme. And now I am at the Flower Land part. Always nice to have a little bit of Yuuka thrown into the mix, yet had a little bit of a hard time identifying the River Styx and Sixty Years segments fragments Drunke_Flower was talking about. The ending is quite energetic though, very upbeats, and it will make sure you are awake if you fell asleep (it sure gave me some energy while writing this). Anyway, this is also a good song, so I will rate it 8.5/10

Alright, the time has come. News roundup before Christmas: News and updates There has been maintenance break today. Now let's see what it brought to us: Oh, boy... I will have to manually go though each of these. Where do we begin? 1) Events We have a sequel to the evet from last year. This time, Okina decided to take the mantle and become Gensokyo's version of Santa Claus. What is interesting this time around is the chance for a costume drop out of the first chapter (and only chapter-mission we got today). It can be farmed as it is just a 1 stage battle, but even with two costumes owned, the drop rate is still a little questionable. The mini-game has been announced to come to Global. From some opinions of people who played it already on the JP server, it seems to be rather lackluster. Like an insult towards more appreciated game such as DanKagu (timing for the announcement of this mode could not have been worse, just after the end of service for DanKagu). It remains to be seen how it will perform when it finally reaches Global though... Of course, it cannot be LostWord if we do not get some new or rerun bullshit EX stage. I am not even bothered to check them, as I never did after taking a look at the first ones that were released on Global. Like I have announced last time, Fantasy Rebirth is coming for Ultra Fes units. Time to create more glorified 14 SP bricks... Out of all these characters, I think only the Witch of Scarlet Dreams got a proper introduction and justification to become a character MC-chan can make use of in battle? Through the special WoSD stages we got long ago. That was a cool idea, yet it was never implemented afterwards for the rest of the Ultra Fes, Epic Fes or whatever special unit this gam has dumped in without any reason or connection to the story. Kourindou Rolette is back for the following 10 days New Ruins of Memory story coming. We all know the drill by now, get ready for another Relic Fes unit. Stage also comes with a shiny new card And the overall events for the following days, maybe couple weeks from now. 2) Characters and banners Maid Okuu and Orin are here. Each of them has a separate banner. Because LW devs are lazy with their designs, I will be just as lazy and copy-paste what I said about them last time: Vagabond Relic Fes Mokou is now a thing. Again, I am not very sure what I could say about her besides neat, I guess? And now the highlight skins for the current Christmas event. They have been released since last year, and now they are finally having a meaning. Back then, they were just some nice extras to have. And of course, the new line of winter outfits released with the event. All of them are cute, but I really wanted to get the Tenkyuu one. I like the Santa Claus vibe it has, and Tenkyuu is both one of my Top 10 2hus, a well as a character I use quite a lot in LW (she is surprisingly effective for farming, even if I use her at 10 SP farming). 3) JP server news Last character to be released this year is an alt for... I think this is supposed to be Ringo? "The last new SFes and character of the year. The next one(s) will probably be during New Years (probably be an EFes too). Rabbit 4 Ringo is a Tech unit. And it seems that Yuyuko and Byakuren are being added to the ritual pools. Also Fantasy Rebirth 2.0 for Daiyousei, Shizuha, Nitori, Hina, Yatsuhashi, and Benben. Fantasy Rebirth costumes for Koishi and Satori are next" (u/WWWWWWRRRRRYYYYY of the Bunbunmaru Newspaper) Community discussions and memes After more than 1 and a half/2 and a half years of its existence, people are discussing again about how worth is this game playing. Espcially after the last half a year and all the evolutions brought in by story and characters intoduced. "If you asked me 1 year ago, I'd say yes. However, the JP devs got way too greedy. They also stopped adding meaningful story updates or game modes. There's nothing to be excited for anymore. I still remember being so happy I rolled Saki because I finally had a good unit for fire extra. Now I would only get that feeling if I rolled the shiny new Efes or Relic fes, since all these trashy new jp extra stages basically require the new units to farm well. We have so many units that have potential, but we will never get good content like elemental extra stages or conflux because JP devs love fucking over their players. I wish global got some balls and said fuck jp devs' practices, like with how they made epic fes have 400 pity recently." (u/TraditionalCycle6279) "Touhou is my fav series ever, and unfortunately LW is just a gacha game with Touhou marketing to get it to sell. The only reason I'm playing is to get more retro units, since they actually hold true to the lore/ actual characterization of the Touhou girls without being their fanon personalities. But if I was being honest I would be pretty bummed if the servers went down, as it's pretty fun leveling the Touhou girls up to get their last words." (u/SnooRecipes9397) "In my opinion the game is very stale and the monetization is ridiculous. I mean sure i understand you gotta make money somehow, but again the constant unit spam is ridiculous. I personally play it cus it's touhou-related and sometimes stories have its cute or nice or funny moments. honestly, if it stays like this I don't think it will be alive for long. which is really sad cus I think it has the potential to be something good." (u/melon_prophet) "I love the Touhou series to death, it's a huge part of my weebdom, but I'm not the biggest fan of THLW. The gacha rates are horrible, the resources you get are pretty limited and the frequency with which UFES are pushed out is kind of insane and all but pushes you towards whaling if you're a collector..." (u/Aenigma66) "This exactly. I'm currently taking a break from LW, because at this point I don't know if im playing it for fun, or just for the sake of the daily grind. I remember the whole reason I started LW was because it was very generous with resources you would get for the amount of limited characters. It was reasonable for a dedicated player to get most of, the characters just by playing the game. And splurging a little here and there. No more then a couple cups of coffee worth. But now we constantly have back to back fes and UFES characters. and they even implemented the other limited one. LW has gone from a very forgiving gacha game to a typical one with one of the worst pity systems in gacha, since it actively punishes you for rolling on characters you can't hit pity on, if you don't get the char you want." (u/Drwankingstein) "I enjoy it for the stories and the characters. I'm not one to care about how strongly they're represented compared to their existing lore, especially considering most Touhou content is fan made, right? Hop on, do dailies, play through the new events - if I roll a new character, cool; if not, I'm not super bummed, they'll get a rerun eventually. I don't make it the only game I play, and that's probably why I don't feel as strongly negative towards it (and many other gacha games) as a lot of people here seem to. I've got Genshin, 2 Love Live games, Azur Lane, RuneScape - and that's only on mobile. [I am sorry for you, buddy - Count's notes] Also, If I'm feeling an itch to play Touhou in any variation, there's actually hundreds of Touhou fan games of almost every single game genre out there, but that doesn't compel me to just drop LW because I'm not feeling turn-based strategy ATM, lol. Constant updates, adding events, stories, categories - these really make it stand out from most fan games in the Touhou realm, as generally you finish them and there's no more content; both a curse in waiting for something new to drop, and a blessing in knowing that there's more to come." (u/LilyTwilight) "No. It was pretty interesting at first, but now there's nothing but bloat in the game with characters that are quite literally reskins. No, I'm not talking about the actual skins you can purchase which are way overpriced, I'm talking about the characters that are either "retro" or one of the numerous character in an outfit or one of the numerous recolors that somehow equals not only being completely original but somehow better than their original counterparts. I could understand Alterisa and Edgy Youmu due to their abilities not matching their original counterparts. But minus the Lunar War characters (which STILL feel halfassed) literally every other character is what I feel like should've been a buff for the characters in some capacity instead of generic reskin #1,943 and just made an NPC you could talk to instead of a throwaway unit with a select usage. I haven't touched the game in months so I don't remember which characters I have. Turned off notifications and just started doing other things. Haven't even bothered with any events that were happening, that's how much I've stopped caring. The last event I played before quitting was the one where Eirin suddenly stops being smart an becomes the generic doctor that spews on random nonsense and doesn't pay attention to what's happening until the last second." (u/MysteriousBirbNukes) "My gripes: EX/VS/Conflux stages are just too short, have too many unit checks, card drop rate sucks Standard event stages mats drop rate sucks, it should at least scale with owned event costumes, most of the cards are useless, I did not like Dark Nurse of News event, specially due the element check thing, if events like this became the norm new players who lack units will be really pissed off. Also, I did not fucking like the card stage with Yukari locking you out from boosting, that card, at least for me, wasn't that useless, Mai and Satono would have liked that card, but no, you needed at minimum 12sp Meiling with specific cards to farm it, otherwise you were SOL. The new Gensokyo Island EX stages also smell like finish them once, fetch rewards don't bother daily farming a specific stage for scroll/tiles cause past EX stages are easier and can be farmed with 8sp units I do miss the extra Sangetsusei daily stage, mostly because silver incense and gold mats Standard Rebirth: It's pointless, glorified 14SP brick, sure 14SP Kasen 4t? or 5turning 3-18-3 it's quite something, but I do have other units who can 3t it for cheap Rebirth 2.0: TOO EXPENSIVE, right now only Reimu received the upgrades, but I don't use her anymore, I'm planning to Rebirth Flandre and RE2.0 her just for shit and giggles, probably I'll RE2.0 Marisa too, but, -BUT- the amount and especially the type of mats needed it's too much Rebirth Costumes: I do not fancy waifu dresses, so I can't give you any kind of candy Anima: I would like to save those gold scrolls and coins for better stuff I can't say that much about one banner after another, I spent enough money to buy a more than decent hard tail, somehow ended up to scoring all retro units (plus 8 or so dupes), all FES units but 4, had to skip sparking or seriously pulling for past three months gen pool banners, nevertheless I got Mike and Eternity for cheap, but yeah, got at least 3 Meta UFES units and L80 Sakuya, but had to give up chasing Epic Units cause we don't have so many means to fetch enough dolls to MLB them, yes I can spend 43€ for a doll and stuff I'll probably need, but I'll be more than happy to shell out at MAX 10€ just for a doll and no extra" (u/Il_Diacono) In my absence, Remi and Patchy continued their Scarlet Talk series, with hilarity ensuing every time: 1) Scarlet Talk Episode 8: Year End Short Recap (18th December 2022) 2) Scarlet Talk Episode 8.5: Year End THOUGHTS (21st December 2022) [SOMEBODY SAVE THAT FUMO! - oh wait, she seems to be chill there] (I always love playing this in my head when I see the outro) 3) Scarlet Talk Episode 9: Obligatory Christmas Episode (22nd December 2022) Brief talk about the new manga thing: Honestly, they are one of the few things that still keep me playing this game. I have no other real reason to stay, as I already reached my personal endgame. But these cute comics are something I really wish to read every now and then, and it feels satisfying when unlocking new ones. Plus, the art style in the latest series has been so cute and squishy =0_0= (especially for the fairies grup; they did not look like being bigger than a football) Also this meme to end the day:

We are being spoiled this Christmas. New PV from Akatsuki Records dropped just an hour ago, and they use the same pattern of 2 PVs, we will get one more on Christmas morning. And this time, they finally made an official PV for Psycho Lily (Junko-related song)

Holy mother of seal cubes, it's been 3 weeks since I have last updated this. I really must come back to bringing the news, as even just in the past few days there has ben a lot going on and soon to come. rather fitting with the maintenance on Global in a matter of hours.

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.

Character introduction: Manaka Hiba General information (curtesy to the Amagami wiki): Manaka Hiba (飛羽 愛歌 Hiba Manaka) is the vice president of the tea club who is one of Rihoko Sakurai's seniors along with Ruriko Yuzuki. She appears in Kimikiss (a game-based anime with the same author as Amagami) as Manami Hiba in Episode 19 joining in Aihara's little sister "Udon Association" with Kaoruko Yuzuki (Yuriko Yuzuki). Appearance: Manaka has messy shoulder-length black hair that has a few hair strands hanging over face and black eyes. Personality: Manaka is a shy girl who has a quiet voice and a tendency to speak cryptically. Somewhat strange girl with interests in scuba diving and the abnormal. Really loves her diving suit. Age: 18 Some trivia from the same article: there is no trivia, so I will have to skip it again And now for the art gallery: Illustration by toki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/22921133) Illustration by toki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/22431335) Illustration by uncoco (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/3603893) End thoughts: I see that Danbooru was talking in her brief profile page about a scuba suit. However, I have yet to find a single image of Manaka dressed in one... From the few images I have posted, combined with those from yesterday (she appears a lot next to Ruriko Yuzuki), she seems to be a little bit of an angsty person. Next time, we are dealing with one of the older sisters of Tsukasa, Yukari Ayatsuji.

Alright, this is actually quite a useful trick. Thank you for the info! Gotcha ;) I would prefer however to keep most of the stuff as it already is, as I am not the kind of person who complains so easily when it comes to images. You actually need something quite despicable to make me say anything about it. Otherwise, simply ignore... or keep for, ahem, "reference and research". Anyway, on with today's topic. Character introduction: Ruriko Yuzuki General information (curtesy to the Amagami wiki): Ruriko Yuzuki (夕月 琉璃子 Yuzuki Ruriko) the club president of the tea club and Rihoko Sakurai's senior. She is always worried about Rihoko's clumsiness and about the future of the tea club, as it will be left in Rihoko's hands as the new club president when she and her best friend, Manaka Hiba, will graduate. She appears in the KimiKiss anime (a game-based anime from the same author of Amagami) as Kaoruko Yuzuki in the episode 19 joining in Aihara little sister "Udon Association" with Manami Hiba (Manaka Hiba). Appearance: Ruriko has short black hair and black eyes with glasses. Personality: Ruriko is a straight and outgoing girl, but she seems to be quite serious and strict at the same time. Age: unspecified Some trivia from the same article: the article has no trivia section, so we have to skip it this time around And now for the art gallery: Illustration by Takayama Kisai (source: image board) Source: official material Source: official material Source: official material Source: official material Source: official material Illustration by OCTOPUS-SLIME (source: DeviantArt - https://www.deviantart.com/octopus-slime/art/Amagami-Stitch-Ruriko-Yuzuki-and-Manaka-Hiba-01-912598256) Illustration by OCTOPUS-SLIME (source: DeviantArt - https://www.deviantart.com/octopus-slime/art/Amagami-Stitch-Ruriko-Yuzuki-and-Manaka-Hiba-02-912601472) Illustration by toki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/16198282) End thoughts: We are back to the "side character = little fanart" rule. There are just 4 more character until I can get to Junichi himself. This time, I really did not have where to pick from, no matter how many image boards I would make use of. There are like 12-15 images, and these two I thought to be the ones looking best or be safe enough and represent the character. I had to make use of screenshots from the official source, and look for more... unorthodox sources for the rest (I was not expecting to get back to DeviantArt, it's been a while) Next time, we are dealing with that girl with long, black hair that appears a lot next to Ruriko in art and shots, Manaka Hiba.

My original image board of use was Safebooru (as the name suggests, it only had what could be counted as safe). Nowadays however, I am using Danbooru because it has so many more images then Safebooru. To use Touhou as an example, there's a difference of over 250 thousand images between the two boards. Plus, a good chunk of what is on Pinterest (minus series screenshots) is pretty much what I brought there - I have a collection of over 23 thousand Touhou images on Pinterest. As for NSFW material, minus a few exception, I am fine with it. Perhaps I really got desensitized after long exposure to the material, so it is not as striking as it used to be. Also some of it is... not bad. Oh, I am so going to hell... Character introduction: Tsukahara Hibiki General information (curtesy to the Amagami wiki): Hibiki Tsukahara (塚原 響 Tsukahara Hibiki) is a secondary character of Amagami SS and Amagami SS+ plus. She is a student of class 3-A in Kibito High School. She is a captain of the school's swimming team. She is "Haruka's best friend, a person, who understands her, and her guardian". Hibiki is a senior of Ai Nanasaki. Appearance: Hibiki has black hair that she wears in a ponytail and brown eyes. She wears school uniform while she is in school, and a school swimsuit during school's swimming team practice. Personality: Hibiki is a best friend of Haruka who knows her well. She takes care of Haruka, even by giving the cold shoulder to a boy who was following Haruka. She is proficient in both literary and martial arts, and is a captain of the school's swimming team. Hibiki is admired by junior swimming team members. However, it's hard for her to smile, and she is worried that other people can see her face as scary. Age: - 18 (Amagami SS) - 19 (Episode 20/Rihoko Sakurai arc Part 4 and Amagami SS Plus) - 28 (Episode 4/Haruka Morishima Arc Part 4) Some trivia from the same article: Hibiki likes to tease Haruka, junior swimming team members and window shopping. Hibiki dislikes Haruka's playful nature and cooking. Hibiki gets to school by train. And now for the art gallery: Source: official material Illustration by sasaki akira (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/102406923) Illustration by sasaki akira (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/102406923) Illustration by sasaki akira (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/102394854) Illustration by jishaku (source: https://twitter.com/ddyh4kdzd7ckihy/status/1576869802253389826) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://twitter.com/tenchi_24/status/1587097066114895880) Illustration by sasaki akira (source: https://twitter.com/ugcsasaki/status/1515673781645504512) Illustration by sasaki akira (source: https://twitter.com/ugcsasaki/status/1505165374286749697) Illustration by sasaki akira (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/96226161) Illustration by bkhayatej (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/93860112) Illustration by sasaki akira (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/86503496) Illustration by sasaki akira (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/87746177) Illustration by sasaki akira (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/73755427) Illustration by sasaki akira (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/60806383) Illustration by sasaki akira (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/54591844) Illustration by sasaki akira (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/46839049) Illustraton by wa (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/46875651) Illustration by kishida-shiki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/32448237) Illustration by zod!ac (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/30103639) Illustration by toki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/22783773) Japanese artist be like (from the artist's comment for the image): Illustration by nana g (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/18007587) Illustration by shouji nigou (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/4988676) End thoughts: Today, we are having an exception from the rule I was talking about yesterday, and instead have a rather varied collection of fanart. We have another legal adult in here, so things can get as spicy as you can imaging when it comes to fanart. For obvious reasons. Also, because she is part of the swimming team, people absolutely love drawing her in the sport swimwear we got so used to until now from other previous posts of this thread. Anyway, next time we are dealing with Yuzuki Ruriko.

Character introduction: Kanae Itou General information (curtesy to Amagami wiki): Kanae Itou (伊藤 香苗 Itō Kanae) is a secondary character of Amagami SS and a minor character of Amagami SS+ plus. She is one of Rihoko Sakurai's closest friends who will be the one to win the Miss Santa contest if Haruka Morishima didn't join. Appearance: Kanae has short brown hair that has a small yellow hair clip on the left side and brown eyes. Personality: Kanae is a cheerful girl and a supportive friend to Rihoko Sakurai to whom she is always giving advice. Age: unspecified Some trivia from the same article: It is unknown if she joined the tea club but can be seen at certain arcs with Rihoko when the seniors graduated And now for the art gallery: Illustration by keisuke (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/26621339) Illustration by shouji nigou (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/11497749) Illustration by aihara kaichi (source: Pixiv - limited access image) End thoughts: Now it started becoming more and more clear I am dealing with secondary characters. Why? Because there is little art of them. Therefore, I guess this shall be the pattern for these posts from now on. Maybe things will change with the following posts. Next time, we are dealing with Tsukahara Hibiki.

Character introduction: Masayoshi Umehara General information (curtesy to Amagami wiki): Masayoshi Umehara (梅原 正吉 Umehara Masayoshi) is a secondary character of Amagami SS and Amagami SS+ plus. He is Junichi Tachibana's childhood best friend who seems to know what happened on Junichi on the Christmas day. Appearance: He has black hair and black eyes and wears the standard uniform. During the winter season he likes to wear a gray striped scarf. Personality: Umehara is a kind and out going person. He seems to have a big respect for Junichi Tachibana, often calling him "boss". He and Junichi are really close that they often meet secretly just to talk and share about their secret treasures. He makes fun of Junichi and his sister (Miya Tachibana) saying that they're a couple even though he knows they're siblings. He works at a sushi restaurant. Age: - 17 (Amagami SS) - 18 (Episode 20/Rihoko Sakurai arc Part 4 and Amagami SS+ plus) Some trivia from the same article (there is no trivia section for the original article, so instead I will use the Etymology section): The name Masayoshi means "right, proper" (正) (masa) and "lucky, good" (吉) (yoshi). Masayoshi's surname Umehara means "Japanese apricot, plum" (梅) (ume) and "field, plain" (原) (hara). And now for the art gallery: Illustration by osomatu-sama (source: Pixiv - limited access image) Illustration by takemi kaoru (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/16744800) End thoughts: This time, we are talking about th best friend of Junichi, and fist male character of the list. The low number of images in this presentation is also due to the low number of illustrations containing him on Danbooru (only 20 posts). Out of the 20 posts, more than half are doujin pages or large group images. Besides, he appears multiple times in the same image together with another character I will cover soon, Itou Kanae. Even if those two appear together in fanart, apparently one f the people on Danbooru made a comment on that, saying that while playing the original game on PS2, Kanae is indeed liking someone, but there was no hint of that person being Umehara. Probably a question not to get an answer very soon... Next time, we are talking exactly about Itou Kanae.

It's r/touhou, that's why. At least that is where I have seen the bulk of it, and the place where people somehow reinforced it.

Character introduction: Maya Takahashi General information (curtesy to Amagami wiki): Maya Takahashi (高橋 麻耶 Takahashi Maya) is a secondary character of Amagami SS and Amagami SS+ plus. She is a homeroom teacher of class 2-A in Kibito High School, who later becomes the homeroom teacher of class 3-B. She is "a quite glamourous teacher in charge". Appearance: She has brown hair and brown eyes. Personality: Maya is a homeroom teacher in the protagonist's class. Because of yoga and jogging, she maintains her healthy beauty, which makes her popular along male students. Maya is a person of firm characters, but sometimes she makes mistakes. Maya is still single, and has no lover. She waits for wonderful love for 5 years. She is graduate of the same school she teaches at, and the first school's Miss Santa. Frankly, she feels inclined to be fighting drunk. Depending on game progress, protagonist can attack her, which will lead only to a bad ending. Age: 29 Some trivia from the same article: Maya likes yoga, jogging, interacting with students and drinking. Maya dislikes jokes of middle-aged man colleagues and gambling. Maya gets to school by car. Kibitou High's Miss Santa Contest used to be a normal Santa Contest until her prank appearance in the event about 10 years ago. Since her win, the participants ratio swung heavily toward girls and then it became what we see in the show. Bonus profile created on Danbooru: Class: 2-A Homeroom teacher 所属: 日本史担当 Birthday: October 24 Zodiac: Scorpio Age: 29 Blood Type: O Likes: Yoga, jogging, 生徒との交流, osake Dislikes: 同僚のオッサンギャグ, gambling CV: Hayamizu Risa (早水リサ) And now for the art gallery: Illustration by rabiyamarabi (source: https://twitter.com/rabiyamarabi/status/1584465072490876929) Illustration by mamiya myanmar (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/51010948) Illustration by mobu (source: https://twitter.com/qow213/status/1585287801758969856) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/102182881) Illustration by mg renders (source: https://a.mg-renders.net/2014/09/amagami-ss-takahashi-maya-render-ecchi_28.html) Illustration by kishida-shiki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/29107678) Illustration by toki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/24078163) Illustration by keisuke (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/21381647) Image with uncredited author on Danbooru Illustration by shibasaki shouji (source: Pixiv - image no longer available) Illustration by kishida-shiki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/16264570) Illustration by ryunnu (source: uncredited on Danbooru) Illustration by tamago (source: http://yotsumi423.blog55.fc2.com/) End thoughts: First time I am dealing with a teacher since Keine. This sure will be interesting... Alright, making the gallery research for this one sure has been one hell of a trip. There are just 5 pages of photos and a total of 99 images, yet this might be the character with the highest percentage of NSFW per number of images. I guess it really makes sense to find so much content of sorts, given we are 100% sure she is an adult (Maya is 29 in the series). For the first 2-3 pages of Danbooru results, I was weary there will be nothing I could post in here. Even the first images are stretching quite a lit the border of what I could get away with. Also a note, images in each of these introductions are presented in chronological order, from the latest to the oldest Danbooru uploads under the tag of the character. Anyway, next time we are dealing with Umehara Masayoshi, another one of the friends of Junichi.

Without having watched the show yet, I can only imagine the thing having gone one way. Since it was during Kaoru's arc, it means it was her time to shine as the girlfriend of Jun'ichi (basically her timeline/route in the game). Why she punched him? Probably just to avoid him having any possible idea, like a "don't you even dare, Junichi" sort of thing. Character showcase: Tachibana Miya General information (curtesy to the Amagami wiki): Miya Tachibana (橘 美也 Tachibana Miya) is a secondary character of Amagami SS. She is a student of class 1-B and the younger sister of Junichi Tachibana. Appearance: Miya has black hair and black eyes. She has slight resemblance to her brother. In school, she wears their standard school uniform. Her Kibito High School Uniform consists of a black jacket, black sailor collar, white collared shirt, black neck ribbon, black pleated skirt, and black knee-highs. Personality: She is a playful girl, and tends to call her brother "Nii-Nii" which sometimes annoys Junichi secretly. She tends to be jealous when her brother is with another girls, with the exceptions of Sae, Ai and Rihoko, who are her close friends. She was always seen walking home with Sae and Ai. She also has a habit of teasing Sae when it comes to Sae's breast. Her favorite food are meat buns. She is shown to care a lot about her brother as seen in episode 26 where it is implied that she is concerned as to why her brother does not have a girlfriend Age: - 15 (Amagami SS) - 16 (Amagami SS+ plus) Some trivia from the same article: Miya's arc is the OVA of the series. Miya is the only support characters to have her arc in both anime seasons. In the game and the OVA, Miya bites Junichi Tachibana's neck, telling him "its a playful bite [jp: amagami] - an expression of love!". This is the only reference to the title in both the source material and the anime. Out from all the 6 main heroines, Miya only dislike Haruka Morishima at first. Her extra ending in the game: "Miya/Imouto End" happens if you raise certain flags with her and if you fail to get with any girls. On Christmas, she finds a kitten. Junichi goes with her to find her mommy cat. He saves the mom cat from being run over. Miya and Junichi see the kitten and mom cat playfully bite each other (amagami!). Tachibana explains "amagami" is a form of affection. Miya bites Junichi to show how much she loves her 'nii-nii'. And now for the art gallery: Illustration by fagi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/100406263) Illustration by Takayama Kisai (source: Amagami SS+ DVD Cover) Illustration by takemi kaoru (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/19820241) Illustration by irodori-classical (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/94988723) Illustration by masuo (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/82912477) Illustration by keisuke (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/43559829) Illustration by keisuke (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/73755389) Illustration by danieri (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/75353602) Illustration by gouda hiroaki (source: unspecified on Danbooru) Illustration by ichikei (source: https://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7urd0NbnD1qao5jho1_1280.jpg) Source: image board (very possible to be official material) Source: official material Illustration by Takayama Kisai (source: image board) Illustrations by yinzai (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/25271483) Illustration by santa (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/28122536) Illustration by keisuke (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/27332298) Illustration by akito (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/12536035) Illustration by kishida-shiki (source: artist's website - no longer working) Illustration by murasaki iro (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/21046179) Illustration by Takayama Kisai (source: dead link) Illustration by ishikura keiichi (source: image board) Source: official material Illustration by Takayama Kisai (source: unspecified - most likely official material) Illustration by gebo (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/15640497) Illustration by kishida-shiki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/15623438) Illustration by kishida-shiki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/2997265) End thoughts: Today we have gone through a character in a very close relationship to the protagonist. There is probably more art of Miya than for a lot of the girls in the series, so that means she does not escape the lewd depictions. To make it even worse, let's just say she is also depicted in incest, so I am not even sure what to be concerned of - the fact she is 15-16, or the very fact her brother is involved in this. For the sake of decency, it seems like it does not happen very often though, or at least Danbooru preferred to only present less than 5 such images in the 20 pages long board. Next time, we are going from very young to very old (compared to pretty much everyone else in the series), and re going to cover Takahashi Maya.

I mean the age difference is little from the rest of the cast (1-2 years). There's just this feeling from her design (or maybe it is just due to fanart?) that she looks more developed than anyone else. Then it is set. This series' male protagonist will be the one who will close the explanation section of this thread (in case the thread will continue past this lore segment). Character showcase: Keiko Tanaka General information (curtesy to the Amagami wiki): Keiko Tanaka (田中 恵子 Tanaka Keiko) is a minor character of Amagami SS and Amagami SS+ plus. [Keep in mind: Amagami SS and SS+ (plus) are two different series, SS+ being a continuation series of the former] Appearance: Keiko has shoulder-length dark brown hair that has bangs hanging over her eyebrows and brown eyes. Personality: Keiko is the quiet and shy type who is always smiling. She is Kaoru Tanamachi's friend who has a crush on a boy in her class that she confesses to him while Junichi Tachibana and Kaoru later give her advice on various things. On one rare occasion during Kaoru Tanamachi's arc in the game, when Keiko is dumped again and Junichi encourages her, she's touched by his kindness and asks him to be her boyfriend, but only for Kaoru to punch him in the face and declares that there's no other girl for him but Kaoru herself. Age: unspecified on the wiki Some other trivia from the same article: Keiko and Risa Kamizaki share the same seiyuu. In the anime series, Tanaka is voiced by Mai Kadowaki And now for the art gallery: Illustration by sansho ss (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/82172953) Illustration by wasabi master (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/98597916) I would also like to insert here the commentary of the author of this image: "In the end, Tanaka-san is the cutest. I watched Amagami SS the other day. She's a little pitiable, but Tanaka-san has a gentle, charming disposition. This illustration is from a scene in the opening." Illustration by mobu (source: Pixiv - image with limited access) Illustration by mobu (source: Pixiv - image no longer available for public view) Illustration by nakahara (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/27831889) (Repost from one of the first replies, but I love how wholesome it is) Illustration by takemi kaoru (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/44068487) Illustration by toki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/28100686) (Probably another repost, but I don't care) Illustration by takemi kaoru (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/24778535) Illustration by toki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/21384006) Illustration by santa (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/22234853) Illustration by ytis (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/14130104) Illustration by ytis (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/19636115) Illustration by ytis (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/13257465) Illustration by shouji nigou (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/11557899) Illustration by Tamago (source: http://yotsumi423.blog55.fc2.com/) End thoughts: We have entered the territory of supporting characters. From now on, it is possible that information will become much more scarce to find for each, as the wiki did not write a lot on the topic (I guess this is what happens when you have to rely on a wiki run on Fandom, like when ou have to compare the Touhou wiki with the Touhou Fandom wiki). Also, there is significantly less fanart to pick from (about 54 images in total). You may have noticed Tanaka appears a lot in art together with Kaoru. But I guess that is bound to happen, given the two are connected in the series and Tanaka herself can't really be associated with anyone else. In the image of her getting pushed from behind to send the letter, the hand pushing her is probably that of Kaoru, given the beige sweater and relation between the two. The scene is also apparently from the opening of the anime, so I guess I will get to see it once I actually decide to give the show a try. Next time, we are covering Tachibana Miya, the younger sister of Jun'ichi.

Yeah, Haruka has quite an interesting haircut, especially with that sidelocks. Interesting, she also might be the character that gives the strongest impression she is the adult of the group. Which is quite appropriate, given she is 18 and I think the oldest (when the rest of the cast is anywhere between 15 and 17). Anyway, last time I forgot to mention who the next character will be, so without further ado, I will get directly to it: Character showcase: Kamizaki Risa General information (curtesy to the Amagami wiki): Risa Kamizaki (上崎 裡沙, Kamizaki Risa) is a secondary character of Amagami SS and a minor character of Amagami SS+ plus. She is a secret heroine in the game and anime. She has a crush on Junichi, and she is secretly stalking him. She is also a student of class 2-B and a classmate of Rihoko Sakurai. Appearance: She has long brown hair and black eyes. Her hairstyle is almost the same as Tsukasa Ayatsuji. She wears the formal school uniform but she wears a vest instead of a black coat. Personality: She is a shy girl and has been in love with Junichi ever since grade school. She has been secretly stalking him and is very overprotective of him, leading her to break other girls' hearts for what she thinks will save Tachibana from another heartbreak. She may be an example of a Yandere. Age: 17 (Amagami SS) Some other trivia from the same article: Her voice actress also voices Keiko Tanaka, a friend of Kaoru and a classmate of Junichi. She was actually shown in the opening themes before the start of her arc. She is also shown in each girl's arc in the OVA. She always shows up for at least once in each girl's arc, and is always seen in the background as a passerby. In the Bad End of the game she has a yandere personality. And now for the art gallery: Illustration by hibikida1113 (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/86089617) Illustration by kakki28469387 (source: https://twitter.com/KAKKI28469387/status/1275077550075609089) Illustrations by serizawa (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/82511252) Illustration by shouji nigou (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/61449102) Illustration by shouji nigou (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/57107612) Illustration by shouji nigou (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/60525816) More illustrations by shouji nigou (source - all part of a bigger collection: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/47412872) Illustration by shouji nigou (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/45693423) Illustration by muramaki murako (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/9346244) Illustration by shouji nigou (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/41658157) Illustration by shouji nigou (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/9067032) Illustration by shouji nigou (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/32319723) Illustration by santa (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/26524211) Source: official material Illustration by shouji nigou (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/19502795) Illustration by haitaka (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/18019131) Illustration by shouji nigou (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/16427317) Illustration by purea (source: Pixiv - image no longer available to the public) Illustration by shouji nigou (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/14877416) Illustration by toki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/11219959) Illustration by nishiuri warito (Pixiv - image no longer available to the public) End note: Reading through the wiki and any other source that explains her, it seems like Riza is a character that did not appear in the original game (the source material), but was later added into the anime adaptation as a new member to the cast. With this character, we are now done with the main cast as ordered by Danbooru. From next time on, we are getting into the supporting cast of the series. And the one I really want to begin with is Keiko Tanaka. I have talked about her a little bit recently thanks to the connection with Kaoru, so why not start from there. "It's like poetry. It rhymes" (George Lucas, probably). As for the art itself, this edition only proves each of the Amagami characters has at least one very dedicated artist who draws them quite a lot. If there is to notice some sort of a pattern: Tanamachi Kaoru - is drawn a lot by takemi kaoru (huh, quite fitting) Ayatsuji Tsukasa - has been depicted very often by... well, there is not really a specific artist for her - MYTH BUSTED Rihoko Sakurai - is often illustrated by... quite a lot of people, some more prominent names on my list being takayama kisai (even though they have drawn pretty much everyone in the series) and kishida-shiki Sae Nakata - is featured quite a bit in the art of, again, takayama kisai and kishida-shiki Nanasaki Ai - is probably one of the best examples of what I mean, as she is heavily featured in most of the at created by yoo tenchi and murasaki iro Morishima Haruka - has most illustrations in her section of this thread coming from mobu, but if I were to also count her NSFW depictions from the past few years, I could have also probably counted in the artist rudoni Kamizaki Riza - has ben depicted quite a few times by shouji nigou Actually, I forgot about Jun'ichi himself. So next time I will either have a double feature, or keep him for the end. In all honesty, I would rather go for the latter option, as a way to close the explanations part of this thread with the very protagonist all this adventure in Amagami started from. Because had it not been for Jun'ichi to be "unceremoniously rejected two Christmas Eves ago" (thank you, wiki section of Danbooru), we most likely would not have ended up meeting all this colorful cast around him.

I guess you will really enjoy this series. Each of the girls gets their own story arc to shine in, and in which to present their interaction (and affection) towards Jun'ichi. I am still debating whether to add some of the supporting characters too, or focus on the main ones. Especially characters that seem to be connected to our main cast in different ways like friends, colleagues and so on. One story is quite whole, that of Keiko Tanaka; she is a close friend of Kaoru, and is usually helped by her and Jun'ichi in trying to deal with a crush Keiko has for another colleague. But more on that once I finish with te main cast. Yeah, i really know what you are talking about. Except I did not learn about it through a fridge, but through a door knob turned into waifu... It's Japan, don't ask I guess this just happens. Just way too often. And with artist being completely desensitized when doing it - "I hate CP, but 50 dollars is 50 dollars" kind of situation. Coming back on the 14-16 years of age part. My problem is that I basically cannot really like the characters, or take a crush on them (since most of the Amagami cast is not older than 17 at most in the anime adaptation), as it would basically be pedophilia on my side (I hate being legally an adult, as I can no longer make the "jokes on you, I cannot be a pedo if I am also underage" comment). Which makes all the lewds of a legally underage fictional character feel weird and uncomfortable. Especially those that involve sex - does it get better or worse if both characters involved are underage? None of the two character can be called a pedo as they are the same age compared to the classic situation of the faceless adult/"ugly bastard", but remains even more wrong on the side of 1) the person who drew the art itself and 2) th person who commissioned said art, if that art piece was a commission? Given that most of the sexual content in this series is usually one girl from the cast (sometimes make it two of them) + Jun'ichi, we are talking about a group where none of them is older than 16-17. Anyway, with all this now solved, time to get into the next relevant topic: Character showcase: Morishima Haruka General information (curtesy to the Amagami wiki): Haruka Morishima (森島はるか Morishima Haruka) is the first heroine featured in the Amagami SS anime. She is a third year student in class 3-A and is popular throughout the school. Appearance: Haruka has black hair that has a black-white headband inside and blue eyes. She has straight hair with bangs, they are curly near the end. She wears their black school uniform. Personality: She has a teasing and playful nature. She is a very picky person, bit eccentric and quite insecure when it comes to things she likes the most. She also likes cute stuff, especially puppies. Her best friend is Hibiki Tsukahara, the captain of their school's girls' swimming team and the one who tends to berate her. Age: - 17 (Amagami SS) - 18 (Episode 20/Rihoko Sakurai arc Part 4 and Amagami SS Plus) - 27 (Amagami SS episode 4 / Haruka Morishima Arc epilogue) Some other trivia from the same article: Haruka's middle name is "Lovely". Haruka is a quarter-British from her mother's side. Haruka shares similarities with Mao Mizusawa, one of the 7 heroines from Kimikiss, the spiritual Predecessor of Amagami SS. Both Mao and Haruka are the oldest heroines of their respective series, and are the only senior students in their groups. Haruka is the second of three female love interests to be older than the protagonist followed by Aki Muroto if one is to follow both her and Aki's respective arcs. Haruka is the only senior or oldest heroine not to have a three-letter name within her full name, though she does share her first name with Haruka Niimi who is also one of the seven heroines of Photokano. Haruka loves to be spoiled by Junichi Tachibana in many ways, from letting Junichi lick the back of her knee, to playing a kidnapped princess by pretending she was tied up and letting Junichi feed her while he acts as a bad guy. Haruka is always sleeping at the clinic and is often seen by Junichi there. She also has an encounter with Kaoru there, and they chat happily. Haruka is the only female that Miya Tachibana disliked at the first sight, but it is never revealed how Miya will attract to her eventually. Haruka is the only main heroine who Junichi love on the first sight and Sae Nakata almost become the next, but not due Junichi only likes her shyness and bust size. She's the only female lead that is older than Junichi Haruka's ending in the anime is directly taken from her best end in the visual novel. In the game, if Junichi does not progress Haruka's route, when Romeo (a first year) confesses to her, they will begin to start to spend time together in the same way Junichi does when the player spends time with her. Her knee kiss with Junichi has been referenced multiple times in Seiren anime. It was the reason the discipline committee was formed. This also makes her one of the heroines indirectly referred in the Seiren anime (although this was more indirect compare to Ai Nanasaki who was referred by her brother multiple times). She is the only character that is married but doesn't have any kids after the time skip. And now for the art gallery: Illustration by takayama kisai (source: https://mimicle.com/lp/amagamiasmr) Illustration by serizawa (source: https://twitter.com/serizawaroom/status/1572602442608672774) Illustration by mobu (source: https://twitter.com/qow213/status/1565689234886799361) Illustration by jishaku (source: https://twitter.com/ddyh4kdzd7ckihy/status/1562444164654309376) (Bonus feature: Tsukahara Hibiki) Illustration by mobu (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/100064304) Illustration by matsukan (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/95596104) Illustration by mobu (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/88174470) Illustration by denpa (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/80721293) Illustration by neginegio (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/59735563) Illustration by namako mikan (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/54103928) Illustration by takayama kisai (source: https://yande.re/post/show/109118) Illustration from Nyantype Magazine (source: image board) Illustration by akito (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/12536035) Illustration by tsukino jougi (source is not mentioned by Danbooru) Illustration by kazeno (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/25280586) Source: official material Illustration by takemi kaoru (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/21916100) Illustration by okome tsubu (source: Pixiv - artist limited access) Illustration by haitaka (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/21359499) Illustration by kishida-shiki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/21083921) Source: official material Source: official material Source: official material (for some reason extracted from here https://konachan.com/post/show/85270) Illustration by takahashi hidenobu (source: image board) Illustration by kishida-shiki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/13334997) Illustration by motomura kouichi (source: https://yande.re/post/show/147029) Illustration by toshinobu40 (source: Pixiv - artist restricted access) Illustration by wakatsuki sana (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/11774105) illustration by takayama kisai (source: not mentioned on Danbooru) Illustration by nekomaru (source: http://nekoryu.blog65.fc2.com/) End note: while working on this one, Danbooru decided to not work anymore and refused to load images as I was half-way though the gallery. It does this sometimes, but it is not due to bad internet connection because anything else with internet works well... Might be just another error of the platform. People sure have had a lot of fun with her design... in more than one way. Given she is 18 in the series, all I can say is that it's "open season" for all kinds of art as this gets out of the problematic zone raised by the other, underaged characters. Therefore, a lot of art featuring Haruka in her underwear, swimwear or even less (she is also probably the Amagami character with most fanart depictions of intercourse from what I have seen up to this point, most of them with Jun'ichi or implied to be Jun'ichi in the image; her friend Tsukahara Hibiki tends to be involved in this often, be it girls' love or "fun for three"). Yeah, official material sure did play a role in the whole thing, given some of her depictions in the anime...

Character showcase: Nanasaki Ai General information (curtesy to the Amagami wiki): Ai Nanasaki (七咲 逢 Nanasaki Ai) is one of the main female protagonists of the story and the main protagonist of the 4th arc. She is a student of class 1-A and a classmate of Miya Tachibana and Sae Nakata who is also an aspiring member of the official Girls' Swimming Team. She is revealed to have become the President of the Swimming Team in the first episode of her arc on Amagami SS+. Appearance: Ai has short black hair and purple dusky eyes. She wears the school's uniform and she is the only known girl to use a blue sweater instead of the regular beige one that most girls use. Being part of the swimming team, she is mostly seen wearing a swimsuit, which she sometimes wears under her uniform. Personality: Ai tends to be cold and reserved, hanging most of the time with Miya Tachibana and Sae Nakata. However, when she meets Junichi Tachibana (Miya's older brother), Ai soon falls for him despite having a low opinion of him at the beginning. She possesses a cool and calm disposition which got her some fans in school, and also was noted by others that she acts mature for her age, though sometimes she acts the opposite. Age: - 15 (Amagami SS) - 16 (Amagami SS+ plus) Some other trivia from the same article: Ai has a younger brother called Ikuo Nanasaki. Ai is a member of Kibitou Girl's Swimming Team, which is why she is wearing her swimsuit most of the time. Apparently, she admires Hibiki Tsukahara (her captain). Her tan lines are also present in scenes where she's naked [Count's note: wait, what?] or wearing only a towel. Ai is the only girl to be cold on Junichi Tachibana on her first sight, except on the arcs of Rihoko Sakurai and Tsukasa Ayatsuji. Ai has a habit of wearing a swimsuit under her school uniform. In the anime, Ai's ending is mixed between her best ending and her bad ending. She and Junichi spend Christmas in a hot spring in the mountains, but in the last scene before credits she and Junichi are shown at the beach, talking while Junichi rests his head on Ai's lap. However, her best ending epilogue where she watch fireworks together with Junichi was used in SS+. Ai shares some similarities with Mai Sakura from Amagami's spiritual successor: Both are athletic. Ai is a member who becomes later captain of the swimming team. Mai is a member of the Gymnastics team. Ai is rarely seen with Miya Tachibana or Sae Nakata once she becomes Junichi's girlfriend. In game, she's the only protagonist who will declare her love to Junichi Tachibana regardless of what ending the player gets The "ramen" scene at the amusement park features a reference to Tsukasa Ayatsuji's route in the game when a young Ayatsuji runs in front of the frame. She's the only female lead directly referred in the Seiren anime since her brother Ikuo Nanasaki is a secondary character in the series. She was not referred by name though. This is the same with Haruka Morishima but it falls mostly on her being referred as "students doing lewd things in the shed" And now for the art gallery: Art by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/95181524) Illustration by saitou shouki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/51741929) Illustration by saitou shouki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/38237689) Illustration by takayama kisai (source: https://mimicle.com/lp/amagamiasmr) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/102101140) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source (2 versions): https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/101844910) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/101691682) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://twitter.com/Tenchi_24/status/1574186110548611072) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/101031024) Illustration by murasaki iro (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/100283747) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/100044367) Illustration by yoo tenchi (I start feeling the artist has drawn mostly art related to Nanasaki, given how much there is under their name) (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/99843072) Illustration by, you guessed it, yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/99564455) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/99450780) Illustration by mobu (source: https://twitter.com/qow_213/status/1438156635998851073) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/99118162) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/90725857) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/95491114) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/98510703) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/92021456) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/98240489) Illustration by hanna lancaster (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/97012987) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/97926926) Illustration by bkhayatej (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/96523433) Illustration by tenpanco (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/96028130) Illustration by tenpanco (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/96041109) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/96081684) Illustration by yoo tench (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/94224214) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/94925456) Illustration by narumi nanami (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/39423090) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/93582209) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/93316516) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/92987540) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/90211758) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/91291811) Illustration by yoo tenchi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/91019336) Illustration by irodori-classical (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/75503376) Illustration by sasaki akira (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/87923734) Illustrations by serizawa (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/86771407) Illustration by mobu (source: https://twitter.com/qow_213/status/1212387754371252229) Illustration by murasaki iro (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/70321034) Illustration by murasaki iro (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/67382791) Illustration by 3four (source: https://drawfriends.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=51095) Illustration by takayama kisai (source: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71vtuNJKpxL.jpg) Illustrations by murasaki iro (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/47733689) Illustration by ichikei (source: https://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7urd0NbnD1qao5jho1_1280.jpg) Illustration by saitou shouki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/45647259) Illustration by murasaki iro (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/45237503) Illustration by tsuhiki koyomi (source: Pixiv - author restricted access) Illustration by murasaki iro (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/43137607) Illustration by murasaki iro (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/40043032) Illustration by murasaki iro (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/36676817) Illustration by murasaki iro (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/24103036) Illustration by sasaki akira (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/28522434) Illustration by nishikawa ari (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/26596948) illustration by gouda hiroaki (source: https://yande.re/post/show/210936) Illustration by inomata masami (source: image board) Illustration by kishida-shiki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/24819330) Illustration by sugimoto isao (source: image board) Illustration by yanago shinsuke (source: image board) Source: official material Source: official material Illustration of an uncredited artist (source: https://konachan.com/post/show/85270) Illustration by umetsu yukinori (source: Megami MAGAZINE 2010-11 Vol. 126) Illustration by inomata masami (source: unspecified volume of Megami MAGAZINE) Illustraton by kujou hyotarouo (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/7932217) Illustration by gebo (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/4581845) End notes: Wow, this was quite a long one. Also even more of a wow, I was not expecting to see just to authors (yoo tenchi and murasaki iro) for the bulk of the posts, In the vase of the latter, I think their entire gallery is dedicated to drawing of Nanasaki Ai. And one more notice. The more you got back in time on illustrations posted on Danbooru, the greater the chance to find a discussion in the comment section. These comment chains can be quite a mixed bag. This time however, it was scary to see implied endorsement of CP in one of the images. Without trying to look too weak, I do not know which one is more wrong - the fact there is NSFW of a character that is canonically 15, or the fact I have seen comments implying lust (like calling the image "delicious" and all the sort). Again, she is 15... Bonus for the "what can be worse" category, the one confused guy who thought the girl looks too physically developed for the age while everyone was trying to correct him - nothing wrong in the gesture, just that the execution was less than subtle in regards to some of he users' desires. Extract: This is the second case of the type when I ended up in a "Danbooru chat, what the fuck?", first time being after seeing their reactions on a Touhou image (again, obviously NSFW - those attract all the fun discussion), and a back-and-forth discussion on whether the image was basically mass r*pe or the girls willingly too part in a mass... let's call it interactive meeting. I am sorry for the note in which this section of the presentation ended, it really was something that had to be addressed right from the very beginning. Especially when most of the cast in not canonically older than 16-17 at best (or like in the case of Nanasaki, by 15 years old). Yes, I have to write one day asking what is so magic about the age of 16 in Japan than all characters are in that age span. Next time anyway, we are dealing with the first heroine of Amagami SS, Morishima Haruka.

Character showcase: Sae Nakata General information (curtesy to the Amagami wiki): Sae Nakata (中多 紗江, Nakata Sae) is the main female lead of the third Amagami SS arc. She is a student of class 1-B and a classmate of Miya Tachibana (who is also her close friend) and Ai Nanasaki who studied in an all-girls school when she was in middle school. Appearance: Sae has shoulder-length brown hair that is tied up by two black ribbons with bangs swept to the left side, brownish-green eyes and a distinct characteristic is that her breasts have grown to a large size (as commented by Jessica), which occasionally draws Junichi Tachibana's attention whenever he sees her and usually the jealousy of Miya Tachibana, despite being a first year. She wears their formal school uniform. Personality: Sae is a extremely shy girl because she has studied all her life in a all-girls school, but she got over her shyness when she meets Junichi Tachibana. She also blushes a lot when she talks or makes contact with the boys. After Junichi takes her to Kaoru Tanamachi workplace, she also wishes to become a waitress, something that Junichi helps her to do (with very hilarious results). Age: - 15 (Amagami SS) - 16 (End of Rihoko Sakurai Arc and Amagami SS+ Plus) - 25 (End of Sae Nakata Arc) Some other trivia from the same article: Sae has a low soft voice. Sae's arc is unique that it is the only arc to feature a narrator. There is also a running gag in her arc wherein characters (usually Junichi Tachibana) breaks the fourth wall by talking to the narrator. The narrator is even present in Amagami SS+ and her OVA episodes Sae is the only married heroine to be pregnant for the second time in the arc which end with marriage. She's fond of sewing as she sewn her clothes and Junichi's during the best couple contest and offered to sew costumes for the drama club during her arc in Amagami SS+. This may be linked to her name Sae which means "thread, silk" (紗) Sae is the most often to be close with Miya Tachibana. Fact can be shown in her arc, Miya isn't chat often with Ai Nanasaki. But when Ai's arc, Miya is still often to play with Sae, which is due the fact that Ai is always busy with her swimming club activity. Following her arc, she has the most personal character development out of all the leads Sae's favorite season is spring. And now for the art gallery: Illustration by takayama kisai (source: https://mimicle.com/lp/amagamiasmr) Illustration by mobu (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/99409296) Illustration by jishaku (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/91181769) Illustration by serizawa (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/87796144) Illustration by ichikei (source: https://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7urd0NbnD1qao5jho1_1280.jpg) Illustration by megane chuu (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/21293105) Illustration by gouda hiroaki (source: image board) Illustration by takayama kisai (source: image board) Illustration by 3u (source: Pixiv - author limited access) Source: official material Illustration by kishida-shiki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/22873785) Source: official material Source: official material Illustration by gofu (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/14157752) Illustration by oishikaru (source: Pixiv - author limited access) Illustration by sinzire (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/13492220) Illustration by akito (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/13424222) Illustration by sakura akami (source: Pixiv - author limited access) Illustration by star (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/13143836) Illustration by suzume inui (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/13072706) Illustration by ryunnu (source: http://www.sage-sage.sakura.ne.jp/sakuhin80.htm) Illustration by akito (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/13002719) Illustration by kishida-shiki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/12862096) Illustration by yanagi shinsuke (source: https://yande.re/post/show/152234) Illustration by ishikura keiichi (source: image board) Illustration by shouji nigou (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/5445440) (author also draws Touhou, so bonus points for that; next to these chibi I found an awesome Akyuu illustration) Source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/5408793 (same artist as above) Illustration by takayama kisai (source: https://yande.re/post/show/169639) Illustration by takayama kisai (source: not sourced by Danbooru) End note: If I thought Rihoko was quite heavily sexualized by fanart, and that just because she has larger boobs than the rest of the case, then Sae really takes the cake (she is also one of the characters with larger boobs than the average of the show - interesting how it is always the girls with brown hair in Amagami who go through that...). At least if you are going through the more recent pages of fanart in her section from Danbooru. It becomes more even halfway through it. Lewds are still there all the way tot he first images, but there are only just 12 pages of illustrations (so even less than yesterday). Anyway, according to the Danbooru order, the following character I will cover is Nanasaki Ai. Oh boy, there will be quite a bit of work to do...

I wanna join again too. I really liked the remix tournament back in summer. I just need to decide what songs I will bring forward this time though...

Character showcase: Rihoko Sakurai General information (curtesy to the Amagami wiki): Rihoko Sakurai (桜井 梨穂子 Sakurai Rihoko) is one of the female protagonist of the story, and her story is in the 5th arc. She is a childhood friend of Junichi Tachibana and Kaoru Tanamachi and a student of class 2-B. Appearance: Rihoko has brown hair and brown eyes. She wears their school uniform, but she wears a vest rather than the black coat and her attire is similar to Kaoru Tanamachi. Personality: Rihoko has a huge appetite who is also extremely clumsy, forgetting things with unusual ease. Her best friend is Kanae Itou, who is an extremely athletic girl. She is often seen in the library, reading dieting books and also a member of Kibitou Tea Club. She has an unrequited love for Junichi Tachibana ever since childhood. Age: - 16 (Amagami SS) - 17 (End of Rihoko Sakurai Arc and Amagami SS+ plus) Some other trivia from the same article: Rihoko's Arc is the only arc wherein Christmas takes place in its third chapter and the only arc to feature the events after Christmas on-screen. Rihoko is the second of three Enterbrain heroines who are childhood friends with the protagonist followed by Haruka Niimi from Photokano, if one follows both Rihoko and Haruka Niimi's Respective arcs, the first one being Mao Mizusawa from Kimikiss. The only main heroine who Junichi doesn't love on the first season and finally has her feelings accepted by Junichi on the second season. This was a cause of distaste for some fans due to her first season arc focused more on the tea club rather than her relationship with Junichi In the game, Rihoko joins the idol group Genuine Idols (正真正銘アイドル) if the player does not progress her route by day 34. She may be the only female lead which Miya Tachibana did not know or was not aware that his brother was dating until the end of the series. In season 2 OVA she stated that she used to bath with Junichi until their early elementary days She is considered to be the "Bakadere" out of all the female protagonist It is stated in her arc that she was in love with Junichi since they were young but it is not confirmed if this is canon for the other arcs She's the only female lead to have direct interaction with Junichi even if it's not her arc in season 1 (other girls becomes background character or barely notice Junichi if it's not their arc) Her willingness to recruit Junichi to the tea club seems to extend beyond her arc as she did so during Morishima's arc in Amagami SS+ Only her good end in the game was adapted to anime Her interaction with Junichi (outside her arc) always seem to revolve around her consciousness with body image. The only exception is Morishima's arc in Amagami SS+ where she wants to recruit him Only her arc in season 1 deviates from the series formula (it did not conclude at Christmas and they did not end up together) Rihoko hates summer and loves winter and snow. And now for the art gallery: From the anime adaptation Illustration by takayama kisai (source: https://mimicle.com/lp/amagamiasmr) Illustration by keisuke (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/40666739) Illustration by irodori-classical (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/75787630) Extra feature: Tachibana Miya, the younger sister of Jun'ichi Illustration by keisuke (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/23176659) Illustration by soraciel (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/79018783) Illustration by danieri (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/73756498) Illustration by yamaoya g (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/51610956) Illustration by saitou shouki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/36100695) Illustration by santa (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/44819874) Illustration by ganganganso (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/41827933) Source: seemingly official material Illustration by sakayama shinta (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/38800218) Illustration by yamaoya g (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/45690504) Illustration by tachikawa seiji (source: unmarked by Danbooru) Source: official material Illustration by takemi kaoru (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/30441220) Illustration by yuzuki n dash (source: [Lv.X+] Soen Rihoko, released at Comiket 79) Bonus feature: Tachibana Jun'ichi Illustration by keisuke (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/29690060) Illustration by akito (akitotika) (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/26121510) Illustration by takayama kisai (source: unmarked by Danbooru) Source: nakahara (fukufuku) (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/25070126) Illustration by neki (wakiko) (source: Pixiv - access restricted to the image) Illustration by cho bi (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/24665570) Illustration by tachibana roku (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/24476165) Illustration by shu-z (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/21716375) Illustration by kishida-shiki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/21588306) Illustration by unyon (source: http://haruka.saiin.net/~gyroscope/data/img/2011060501.jpg) Extra feature: Jun'ichi again Illustration by peg (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/18254583) Illustration by hide tatsuo (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/19541257) Source: official material Illustration by takayama kisai (source: dead link on Yahoo JP) Cross-over with miffy Source: official material, turned into GIF Illustration by kishida-shiki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/14671874) Illustration by kishida-shiki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/14225618) Illustration by umetsu yukinori (source: image board) Illustration by toki (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/12926696) Illustration by kaoru348 (source: Pixiv - author limited access) Illustration by g-tetsu (source: unmarked source on Danbooru) Illustration by gebo (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/4581845) Illustration by toshipiyo (source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/4440031) Illustration by yagumo kengou (source: http://yagumon.blog25.fc2.com/) Illustration by takayama kisai (source: https://yande.re/post/show/169638) End note: I managed to share more images than I expected about this character. Compared to everyone else until now, she is classified as having large breasts, which in turn lead to finding more not-safe-for-work art of her. Indeed, the character is quite sexualized in fanart, yet I managed to find a lot of good stuff that I could share in here. Not even Tanamachi "Sex Hair" Kaoru got so much content of that kind, despite the fact it exists (it will exist no matter what, and I am perfectly ok with it). Not even the fact there were just 19 pages of fanart (when the characters from Amagami usually have 30 pages or more) could not stop me from finding good material. Anyway, the order in which character showcases will appear is the order in which characters are featured on Danbooru. Therefore, the following one will be Nakata Sae (normally, Tanamachi Kaoru would have been the following one, yet I already covered her in great detail as part of the opening of this thread).