Tager's Touhou Thread

http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Touhou_Wiki**The Touhou Project Wiki:**

This is a thread about Touhou, a series of games called bullet hell shooters created by a one-man team: a man called ZUN. Not only are the games great, but the fan material made from fans of the games is awesome in itself. Of course this is all stated out of my opinion, but I believe it to be one of the great wonders of the internet. From a statistical point of view, 90% of anyone who spends a decent amount of time on the computer has seen at least one piece of Touhou fan material, which is so large that it is easily said no one has seen it entirely, and never will. Between arranges of the original songs, art, Promotional videoes (PVs), doujinshi, and even doujin anime, there is plenty Touhou to go around.

I made this thread in the hope of sharing some of this ever-expanding universe with the members of TAN. :slight_smile: I will be posting about many different things every chance I get. :3

http://youtu.be/LWBBzTWqBhk.
http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/touhoucastb-e.jpg

[Next up: PC-98 Games (1-5 Overview)]

There are approximately six million games, as well as mountains of fan-made stuff for Touhou…

That completely-made-up statistic that Tager threw out there (about 90% of everyone who spends time on the internet seeing something Touhou related), isn’t that far off.

Whether you know it or not… if you’ve spent a good amount of time on this forum, then you should already be familiar with the main protagonist of the Touhou games. You’ll see her anywhere Inphy posts. Her profile picture at the moment is Reimu (main protagonist of the games). Granted, she has a mustache in that picture… but that’s irrelevant!!

Just a heads up, the touhou wiki has moved to http://touhouwiki.net . The wiki at wikia was abandoned and hijacked, and now it’s being updated in bad faith (by copying and pasting the new wiki’s own info) to make it seem like it’s still alive. Most of the info there is still outdated despite that.

More info here: http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,7710.0.html

Could you please update the link in the OP ? ^^;

So that’s what that was all about… :huh:
I changed the wiki link, and I think I solved the video thing. If not, please message me. :slight_smile:

The PC-98 Games

Highly Responsive to Prayers is the first game in the series created by ZUN in 1995, released to the public in the November of 1996, and its full release was August 15th, 1997. The gameplay differs from the other games of the series in that you must bounce a Ying-Yang orb around the screen to hit cards and enemies. The game introduces the heroine, a shrine maiden by the name of Reimu Hakurei, and one other recurring character in the early games: Mima.
The plot revolves around Reimu trying to find who wrecked the Hakurei shrine.

The Story of Eastern Wonderland is the second game of the series, and was released along with Highly Responsive to Prayers on August 15th, 1997. It is the first Danmaku shooting game in the series and also included many hallmarks of the series, such as small hitboxes, a power-up system, an unlockable extra stage, and highly-moblie, (mostly) normal-sized bosses. Mima returns again in this game along with her servant: Marisa Kirisame, who will later become as major a character as Reimu in later games.
After returning from training in the mountains, Reimu finds the shrine overrun with monsters and spirits. She heads to Dream World, which is between Gensokyo and Makai, to find out what caused this to happen.

Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream, the third game in the series, was released on the 29th of December, 1997. It was one of two games so far to feature split-screen gameplay between two players who indirectly battle each-other (the other one being Phantasmagoria of Flower View). Each character is able to unleash specific attacks to try and get rid of the other player’s health points.
When taking a walk, Reimu comes across some curious ruins near the Hakurei Shrine. Only one person is allowed in the ruins to claim a great reward, so seven characters engauge in a big battle.

Lotus Land Story was released in 1998 on August 14th as the fourth game in the Touhou series. This one uses the same features found in The Story of Eastern Wonderland such as the Danmaku, but updates where added, including the collection of items when using spellcards and a non-trivial scoring system, amoung other changes. You can choose between two playable characters Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame, and a new recurring character is introduced as Yuuka Kazami.
This game follows after The Story of Eastern Wonderland, and there are more youkai swarming the Shrine. This promts Reimu and Marisa to seperatly head to a lake in the mountains and enter a strange Dream World to try and solve it.

Mystic Square, the fifth and final Touhou game for the the PC-98, was released on December 30th in 1998. In Mystic Square, a more refined but very similar gameplay to the other Danmaku shooting games, which is quite similar to the Windows games that come later on. This game features the return of Reimu and Marisa, but also the ability to play as Mima and Yuuka as well; however, the individual shooting patters was relinquished for this title. Additionally, Alice Margatroid, who becomes a recurring character in later games, makes her apperance for the first time.
As with the other two Danmaku games, this one starts off with a swarm of demons. Reimu, Marisa, Mima and Yuuka go to investigate this disruption, traveling into Makai once more.


As Hornet has said, there is a mountain of fan-made material out there, much more than any one person could possibly sort through by themselves. In addition to this, he states that there are already some Touhou fans on here, so I would like to keep this open to any Touhou fan! If you find something such as art, an arrange, or any other piece of material you want to share, by all means share it! I would just like to keep it at a few stipulations: No mature content, only 3-4 items per post, only one post with material per 12 hours, and try to keep it relatively on the topic at hand. Don’t worry, we will get to where-ever it is you are most accustomed with in due time. :3
How does this sound?

Eternal Shrine Maiden was one of the more popular songs first released in Highly Responsive to Prayers. :slight_smile:
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l2BFpzNjmA[/video]
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aaB1aBRSlc[/video]

Reincarnation (Mima’s theme)
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HciVG4W9wEE[/video]
(Left: Shinki, Right: Mima)

I was looking for a manga, but couldn’t find one, so here’s a nice arrange or Marisa’s theme from Lotus Land Story. B)
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDvDhZxZUKk[/video]

I beleive we should keep the ball rolling with the introduction of the Windows games, which span from number 6 upwards into its newest released one of 13. There is much, much, much more material made for the Windows games than the original PC-98 ones. Differently from the other games which we gave an overview of, each of the Windows games will be looked at individually starting with Embodiment of Scarlet Devil.

Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (EoSD)

EoSD was the first Touhou game to be created and released specifically on the Windows operating system on the 11th of August, 2002; additionally (please varify if true), it was the first Touhou game to be offically released in America. It is a verticle danmaku shooting game, with Reimu and Marisa as two (and this time only) playable characters, like the last few, but had two more features added: A feature that allows you to collect all of the items on screen, and a bomb system that allows you to substitute an immediate bomb for a life.
EoSD is said to be one of the most popular of all of the Touhou games to date, mainly due to its eccentric characters, every one of which have made a re-apperance in another Touhou game except for Koakuma (mid-stage boss of stage 4).
The story of this one is that a cloud of unnatural scarlet mist covers the land, and Reimu and Marisa head in the direction they think it is coming from, and come to the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

In order of apperance: http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/Random/Th06Rumia.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/Random/Th06Daiyousei.png (named by fans), http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/Random/Th06Cirno.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/Random/Th06Meiling.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/Random/Th06Koakuma.png (named by fans), http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/Random/Th06Patchouli.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/Random/Th06Sakuya.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/Random/Th06Remilia.png, and http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/Random/Th06Flandre.png (featured on the front of the case and is extra stage boss).

Two tracks from this game that have been arranged the most among the fandom are http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXrEfIAPsnkSeptette for the Dead Princess and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w63mKJB5ZJQU.N. Owen Was Her?, which ZUN thought were the most representive tracks of the game.

I’m not a game player, but I saw your You Tube and the characters are well drawn and look great. Is there an anime or Manga of them?

There are many doujin works out there, some of which ZUN has had a hand in. There are currently two anime out right now, the first one being a doujin anime (which I believe ZUN helped advise) and a second one being a work that ZUN had a direct hand in. The one ZUN had a hand in was released with no voices (but still had sound effects), but quite soon after that the first fan dubs began to come out. If memory serves, ZUN intentionally kept the voices out for fan reasons.

The Doujin anime’s first part of its first and only episode:
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOXtdZEw-Xo[/video]

The “more offical” one (Fan-dubbed):
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w337ij3wtXA[/video]

As for manga, I get my manga from http://www.gensokyo.org/ , which uploads translated manga every week or so. On the top display there is a button that says “gallery(archive)” which leads to a download for all of the past things not avaliable in the “gallery(recent)” or new release areas. ZUN does sometimes collaborate with manga circles.

Now, while still on the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil material I might as well post some stuff. It’s so hard to pick out of all the things that are my favorites, but I’ll give a few arranges to start out. I might put some PVs up too, since there are so many. :wink:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STikSSdfDn8[/video]
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URMRxJd7etc[/video]
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjEM19_X6ic[/video]
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHBiUJXGgSY[/video]

I would pick the bottom one my favorite. :stuck_out_tongue:

Well, it is Christmas, so I think I’ll relinquish this post from the direct chain of thought and go off a little about a Touhou Christmas. Please enjoy these few Christmas songs (and a cute picture :3 ) and have a merry Christmas. :slight_smile:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1fgxREoKbM[/video]
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIOGRlVwzi0[/video]
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG4Vr4ZpnHc[/video]

Sorry for the delay; the holiday season is really getting to my time, I guess. :stuck_out_tongue:
Well, as I said, Embodiment of Scarlet Devil has one of the highest if not the highest volume of material out there of any of the Touhou games. As such, I have brought you four (as restrictions placed beforehand spell out), and sadly I can’t place any more; however, if someone else wants to post more of them I would enjoy it. :3


One of my very first Touhou PVs ever seen, second actually. Closed Captions will need to be turned on for this one for the translation. I still have yet to watch this one with the translation ( :unsure: ):
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8LjiN0K6gI&feature=fvst[/video]
This is the PV that got me interested in Touhou initially. Kind of odd to think I’ve barely watched it at all ( :blush: ):
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLAQm2OcC-4[/video]
I was not able to find a translated version until now. It was fine without it, but I think that’s my opinion on all the songs I listen to ( :stuck_out_tongue: ):
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM8XB6klkFU[/video]
This one is of a series of PVs made with the same artwork and by the same person. One of my other most favorite PVs are from the same line:
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMPQWjb0rZo[/video]

I wish everyone a Happy New Year!! :cheer:

On to the next game! :slight_smile:

Perfect Cherry Blossom (PCB)

PCB was the second Touhou game created for the Windows operating system, and is the seventh offical game in the series. Released on August 17th, 2003, with two trial versions released on January 26th and December 30th (the year before). In PCB you have the choice to play one of three characters: http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/Th06Reimu.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/200px-Th07Marisa.png, and http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/Th07Sakuya2.png. There are also two repeating, unplayable characters. A few things were added to this game’s mechanics from the last one, such as a “Cherry Meter” that if filled gives you a temporary sheild, a hitbox outline when you move slow, and a curser on the bottom of the screen duing boss battles to show their location.

The game’s story holds some significance to this quote:

One of the three, depending on who you choose, goes out to investigate what has been prolonging spring’s arrival as it is already May. After going out and searching for clues in the snowy forests and village of Mayohiga with no luck. Then the heroine notices and decides to follow several cherry blossoms until they are flying high above Gensokyo, and pass into the Netherworld through a boundry. In the Netherwold, they find who has been stealing the very essence of spring.

Characters in the order of Apperance: http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/100px-Th07Cirno.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/75px-Th07Letty.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/Th07Chen.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/Th07AliceMargatroid.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/Swr_shanghai.png (one of Alice’s dolls), http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/Th075Hourai.png (another of Alice’s dolls), http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/Th07LilyW.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/50px-Th07Lunasa.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/49px-Th07Merlin.png, and http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/54px-Th07Lyrica.png (the three Prismriver sisters), http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/170px-Th07Youmu.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/200px-YuyukoPCB.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/200px-Ran.png (extra stage mid-boss), and http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/200px-YukariPCB.png (extra stage boss and on cover).

Though Shanghai and Hourai do not necessarily have their own apperances in this game, they have become quite popular with fans. Additionally, many popular and well-recieved songs have been featured in this game, as all 20 have been heavily arranged.

Here is a short run-down of some of my favorite arranges that came from Perfect Cherry Blossom. It took quite a while to sort through which ones I wanted to put; it’s so hard to pick! :blush: I had to ommit some of my favorites, and tried to balance it a little with the music type.

[spoiler]
I decided to trade out certain waltz for a piano version this time (and because I noticed I had no other Prismriver song on here):
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0kkf56-XUo[/video]

A nice and up-beat song for Yuyuko (Main Boss). I don’t know how many times I’ve heard this one, and it easily makes out to be a favorite of mine:
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp_TsD-J7dg[/video]

An Arrange on Yukari’s theme, I find this one to be acceptionally beautiful in quality; if, that is, you believe sound can be beautiful ( :stuck_out_tongue: ) :
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqwiIEkOCKU[/video]

The Staff Roll theme for the game, I really find it a good listen, and have to agree with ZUN’s comment: “I think this song is kind of refreshing.”
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsFkvpOsR4M[/video][/spoiler]

I’m not sure how many PVs I can find on this that don’t need knowladge of the other games, but I will try. :slight_smile:

Just to liven things up a bit:


Well, I know that http://www.jlist.com has a few of the more recent Touhou project games available. I don’t know which ones, as they haven’t appealed to me, but they do have them.

Yeah, J-List has most of the Windows ones if I’m not mistaken. I looked into it, but ZUN saved me from spending $60+ on them by a certain thing he said in an interview.

[spoiler]If I remember correctly, it was something along the lines of: “As long as you enjoy my games and their music, I don’t care how you get it.”

Adds ZUN to my “To Hug” list.[/spoiler]

Anyway, sorry for the long delay of 2+ weeks since the last post. I must admit defeat; I could not find one PCB PV that I liked… actually, any of them I found were from another (later) game that has the same characters. Oh well; placeholder time!

[spoiler]Pairing PVs that deal with characters from the two games we have covered so far? Why not? :stuck_out_tongue: I hope you enjoy. :slight_smile:

First up is a Sakuya and Remilia one:
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ceez-Ji49B4[/video]

Second is Patchouli and Alice
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wez4qMlK714[/video]

And third is just one of my all-time favorite PVs. It does have a “pairing” (Marisa, Alice, and Patchy), but that’s not the main focus.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh5657hYTjM[/video] :3[/spoiler]

Next up is Touhou 8 - Imperishable Night!!

Another pic that Tager found :slight_smile: This one is so so sweet! http://www.theanimenetwork.com/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/MM.jpg

Touhou crossover lol

:laugh: I thought the first one was hilarious, but honestly didn’t really get the second one. :stuck_out_tongue:

I love the crossovers; espceally the Hidamari Sketch one. :slight_smile:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03KTI-jJx50[/video]

Haha! Just kidding! :stuck_out_tongue: Imperishable night isn’t quite yet. We still have another title to attend to, and I will admit it is one that I do not know the full logistics of, but will try my best to cover. ^-^;

Immaterial and Missing Power (IaMP)

Immaterial and Missing power takes place between the 7th and 8th Touhou games, thus being referred to as 7.5. With it’s performance test released on April 18th, the trial released on August 15th, and the full game released on December 30th (all in 2004), it was the first Touhou game to be both a collaborative effort and a fighting game. The partners to ZUN on this project was Twilight Frontier, and keeping to a certain level of Touhou, there was a heavy slant given towards projectiles. On the contrary to the Danmaku shooters, all major characters that appear in this game are playable, and thus each scenario is exclusively focused on who you chose to play as; however, most of the characters you can play as are only unlockable when you beat certain aspects of a character(s) story mode(s). As you might know already, there is a difference in the keys used to play this game, and most of the movements are bound to the number pad. There are two health bars, the white (first one) and the red (second one) that show a character’s health. There is a direct relation from the spellcards to the health bar’s status, with two of six avaliable (one for each). You cannot declare more than one spellcard per round, and once the spell is over the character will no longer have a red section of health. It’s all quite complicated, I’m sure.
The story goes something like this: A strange and powerful mist covers Gensokyo three days before a feast Reimu is preparing for, much like the Scarlet Mist incident. Reimu, along with many other inhabitants of Gensokyo go to investigate what had caused the mist and find Suika, an oni who gets more powerful the more drunk she gets (which is convenient, considering she has a sake gourd that never empties), who is trying to reunite the humans and oni by attracting them through partying and feasting. Through one way or another, all of the scenario endings sum up to around the same point.

The characters are as follows: http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/256px-Th075reimu01.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/200px-Th075marisa01.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/256px-Th075sakuya01.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/200px-Th075alice01.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/256px-Th075patchouli01.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/200px-Th075HongMeiling.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/256px-Th075remilia01.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/200px-Th075youmu01.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/200px-Th075yuyuko01.png, http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/200px-Th075yukari01.png, and http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/Iron_Tager/256px-Th075Suika.png.

This fighting game led to the creation of two other Touhou fighting games, which were also collaborations and also took place between two other games, but we will get to that when we do. :wink: