Yumetou

Monthly polls would be fun. Sure they could be popularity pools and be boring and safe and choose the only right answers constantly. But more fun, off-kilter polls would be fun as well. Which Touhou is the best daughteru, which has the best dental hygiene, most likely to mug you in a dark alley, idk. Character tournaments may also be fun, where we scientifically research if Flandre could beat Goku.

She is absolutely gorgeous! I will admit, I am all smiles at seeing my little doodle in the flesh. I was half sure I will never see or use her again, and half sure if I do it'll be months from now. Hopefully one day, she will have a story all her own I can share with you all. Thank you for making my day a little brighter. I did have an idea she and Remilia are related, but only distantly. Second cousins or some-such. And there is some family dispute between the Blacks and Scarlets. In the way that old distinguished families develop their rivalries, neither one can remember what the disagreement was, much less how it applies to their lives today. Though part of it is because Hope has a bigger bust.

I am convinced you are trolling, but I'm not even mad. This makes me so nostalgic for the old internet. Reminds me a little of Lumagician Yuuto Ichika. Fairly simple design, very youthful, but it conveys a lot to the viewer. I like it. Well done, she's gorgeous! :)

Of all the characters in the series, the Kami of Hakurei Shrine is both one of the most important background figures, and one of the least prominent. Reimu derives her powers from that god, and the shrine is the most iconic setting of the series. The name of the god however is so forgotten only Rinnosuke and maybe Mima know its name. We are only given snippets about it from the series, but not enough to tell its nature or personality. We know that it is angry with Reimu, because she would rather exterminate Youkai and loaf than gather faith. We know that it cannot receive faith, because its rituals and charms have been so ignored by her. As near as I can tell, there's only two games which even reference the kami. Zun prefers to only illuminate characters when he feels the time for them comes, and doesn't let the fandom press him on his choices. After 31 games, we are unlikely to have any answers anytime soon. So, I thought I would ask you, the true hardcore fans, the question that has weighed on my mind for the past five minutes. Who, or what, is the Kami of Hakurei Shrine? More than that, what is your reasoning? Is it a logical fan theory, or just something cool you want to see happen? How would you implement them into the series after 25 years of scarce information? And what would the return of the kami to the series mean for the characters of Gensokyo?

Very nice. I used to be a sprite artist when I was young. Even if it never went anywhere. I know what a pain in the neck it can be to make a custom or even modified sprite. That level of dedication is impressive. Would you be Peruvian? Her heritage seems very specific. Very cute. I approve. What inspired the alien background?

After a couple bad weeks, I am finally back. Will probably put these games on the backburner since enthusiasm is lower than I hoped. But I plan on having a reply this weekend.

I don't try to get people interested in Touhou. I just casually mention it and see who gets the look in their eyes. That look of recognition mixed with memories of Gelbooru.

There is the possibility of returning as a spirit. But that seems hit-or-miss. But there is one other way that hasn't been mentioned yet. Deification. Gensokyo operates under the premise of belief. If you believe something strongly enough, it will come to be. Likewise, if enough people come to believe in someone, that someone will ascend to the rank of kami. It is this that lets Suwako and Kanako appear in the flesh, after a century of declining faith. If you were able to cultivate faith from other people, you could plausibly become a kami outright. Kami, in turn, are considered a kind of Youkai, albeit a far more powerful one. Therefore you would become one. This is probably the hardest path of all. It would require a high amount of spiritual purity, a great deed, and enough faith from humans or youkai for you to become a kami. Great kings, legendary poets and unparalleled warriors are among those who became kami in Shinto. Writing a legendary epic, becoming one of the greatest generals in the land, or founding a great nation are all the minimum qualifications. But it would elevate you to a rank above most other Youkai. You would probably be on the tier of Hina rather than Kanako, but as with all Kami your power would grow with your ability to gain Faith.

C'mon boys its just a few clicks. :) Just follow the link in Suwawako's post that Jaz linked to, confirm your email address, type out the names of your seven favs, and you're good to go. Though the site is in Japanese, your browser can convert it to English pretty understandably, and its understands what you type so you don't have to worry about typing a character's name in Japanese. Even if they're all in Engrish.

I'd like to give game jams a try someday. Its good to learn new skills, and I've legit spent a whole afternoon just playing through old game jam creations. A place like that seems like a good environment to grasp the basics and discover good gameplay loops. That said, I don't know the first thing about programming. Game design I like to think I have a grasp on, but certainly not professionally. My work schedule tends to be very busy lately, and I am not sure when things will slow down. It'll go on my list of 'to do' hobbies. In between 'finishing my Steam library' and 'learning the stock market'. I feel a certain vicarious excitement when Eulogous talks about his experiences, good and bad. So, it makes me glad to hear you want to join in the game jams. Hopefully, I'll be able to join you boys someday. In the meantime, you'll have to listen to me telling you again how I am just too busy to join in.

Just finished voting myself. Thanks for linking Suwawako's video by the way, I'd forgotten he did that. And while I had planned to vote, I had forgotten when the start-end dates were. My own vote went something like this: 1) Remilia Scarlet (I relate with Remilia, because I am handsome, charismatic, sophisticated, and keep children in my basement) 2) Flandre Scarlet (Consistently coming in 5th or 6th in a series with 200 characters isn't bad for a literal basement dweller with no social skills. Maybe she'll hit 1st place again.) 3) Mima (Keep the dream alive) 4) Cirno (Canonically, she's a weirdo always picking fights. Fanonically, she is a humble 3rd level boss who through perseverance, made many friends and grew to be one of the most recognizable figures in the series. Its the American dream) 5) Daiyousei (Despite her personality revolving around Cirno, I actually quite like Daiyousei's fan persona, and think it makes a nice contrast to some of the more...flawed girls in the series) 6) Kogasa (Kogasa isn't my favorite character. Far from it. But she is the character I am most protective of. The spooky umbrella lady needs her love) 7) Suwako (Purely as thanks for Suwawako...Yumeko was going to go here anyway...its not like she's going to break 130th place, much less her 50th place record back in 2007...) I'm just sad I couldn't vote more, but its probably for the best. Most of the other options I considered were the popular picks. Reimu's one of my favorite heroines for her flawed personality, but...c'mon, she's in like the top three constantly. She doesn't need the help. And while I wish I could vote for Yukari and Sakuya as well...Eh, they'll do fine.

Senji Yamamoto Rika Mina Katt

Good...gooood...

One weird thing about her, a couple mods for other games I play include Wakasagihime. There's a mod for Hearts of Iron 4 and one for Mount and Blade. In both, Wakasagihime is made a minor leader...in the Scarlet Devil faction. Despite having no overt tie to the SDM or the Scarlets. Why? Well there isn't any lore reason. The reason as near as I can tell is 'Well, she lives in the lake doesn't she? So naturally she would work for them'. Which...is incredibly sad. She has so little strength as a character on her own she gets assimilated into the Scarlets. Not once but twice. For all I know there's some deep fanon lore behind this, or maybe its a meme on the Japanese side of the fandom. I don't know. I just think its sad. Even a character like Daiyousei who is basically an extension of Cirno has a pretty clearly defined personality and ties in the fandom. But Wakasagihime is just...there, and I doubt it speaks highly of her presence in the game she does appear in...

You know. I mentioned in another thread I found it interesting that half the accepted lore of Touhou is just assumptions by the fans. Nowhere is this clearer than in Cirno's case. In the lore, she is some stubborn loner who seldom works with others. When she does, its out of her personal interest. In the fan lore though, she is surrounded by friends. Characters she may not even officially interact with. Daiyousei, Wriggle, Rumia, Lorelei, Lily, Letty, even Reimu at times. In official lore, she gets into fights over her ego. In fan lore, she fights for her friends just as much, if not moreso. Hell, despite being a throwaway boss, she continues reappearing in the lore. She's one of the most recognizable characters in Touhou, even beating out mainstays of the series like Yukari and Youmu for artwork. Only Reimu, Marisa, the Scarlet Sisters and Sakuya beat Cirno in sheer number of fanart pieces. Characters like Koishi may be more popular in the series, but no one inspires casual fans and newcomers quite like Cirno. For years, I could maybe name two or three Touhou characters. But I would recognize that smile and dress anywhere. On this Cirno Day, I want us all to take a little courage. This little stupid fairy, who couldn't even shoot straight in her first game, went on to become a mainstay of a series with 200 other girls in it. If you keep your heart open, and throw yourself into life with passion, you too may be the baka of your own adventure. Surrounded by friends, happy and eternally young at heart and not just because you're too stupid to worry. Let's all resolve this 9/9/23 to be a little more like Cirno.

You feel like there is a fairy and a shrine maiden inside you? At last. I shall do the seggs on that day. I'll be sure to tell you all what its like.

Gohan isn't strong enough to beat my depression, how is he expected to beat Cirno?

This video contains four of my favorite things. The strongest baka. Daiyousei's undying friendship. Old ass memes. And Sunny Milk getting fucking bodied. @Juunimeta Its weird you say that because I haven't seen one Scarlet Ghetto Patrol reference all morning.

@Saathi @Nyoko @Sir I Finally found time to continue the story. I hope you all enjoy. Excitement is about to break out!

Senji Yamamoto Rika Mina Katt

I don’t think it’s a secret I have a fascination with Mima. The fact she was such a key part of the franchise and just fell off the map never fails to stir my fascination. But my boys Juunimeta and Eulogous have expanded that interest into the general 98 era. If I did a fan game, it’d probably be based on that part of the history. There’s a $5 game on Steam I can’t remember the name of. The premise is simple; you play as the Devil who has purchased a rundown apartment block. You attract various monsters to live in your apartments, keep them happy and use them to fight adventurers and heroes come to loot your stuff. I think a concept like that would fit Touhou well. Imagine playing as a vengeful Mima come back into Gensokyo to rescue your apprentice from the evil shrine maiden who has bewitched her with concepts like ‘friendship’ and ‘Youkai are bad, m’kay?’ You would go through a series of stages you could customize for a sidescrolling dungeon, and populate it with various types of ghosts, youkai and demons to defend it. Some could work well together, while other types hate each other. You could customize rooms to optimize your monster choice or throw in traps. Cast spells to give minions an edge. Recruit various characters from the PC-98 and Windows era as a dungeon boss, all as various heroines or generic fantasy characters fight their way into your dungeon. With the end goal of traversing the levels and making a dungeon so deadly, it takes down Reimu herself. All to bathe the land in darkness and rescue your surrogate daughter. Juuni, Eulo and I were chatting the other week over what Yumeko would look like were she reintroduced. The idea gave me a concept for a 98-focused RPG adventure. Yumeko the Sword-Maid wakes up in a world I can only describe as ‘the dimension of irrelevance’. In this strange new world, you have to recruit allies like Elly, Gengetsu and Satsuki, marching your way through a dull hellscape to try to find your way back to Gensokyo. The only way back is the Yin-Yang orb, which Mima tells you can grant wishes. Would probably put a lot of focus on character-interactions, maybe with a morality system which affects the ending. For instance, if you ignore Mima, she decides to become the god of this new world. If you have high affinity and low morality with her, she may choose to train you as her shrine maiden. Or if you have high affinity and high morality, she will use her wish to see Marisa one last time to say good-bye.

You say Momiji, I say 'She has an official fumo what the fuck?!" I enjoy Daiyousei and even Ran's fanon personalities. So I do feel legally obliged to try to like her. On the other hand she's one of those characters fans only like because 'monster girl' + 'tomboy' = 'heart's desire' She do look cool with a sword tho. So I'll tentatively add her to my list of characters I want to see more of...albeit lower on the list...

I'm due to give a reply to the others sometime soon. I'll include an opening for you while I'm at it.