~The Touhou topic~

by **AkaneMishima** Sat Mar 06, 2010 10:51 pm

Well I just wanted to make a thread on Touhou right here. Let the chatter of Touhouism reign supreme here! Just kidding, but it'd be nice to talk about Touhou here.

by **Td0ggk1llz** Sun Mar 07, 2010 1:04 am

What is Touhou? I have no idea, and I'd like to hear it in your own words. =P

by **RedBunny** Sun Mar 07, 2010 1:04 am

Sorry to ask but who or what is Touhou? o_o

by **Napalmhit** Sun Mar 07, 2010 1:05 am

I'll take a guess and say it has something to do with cards....?

by **Xenose** Sun Mar 07, 2010 3:08 am

From what I heard of touhou, its an anime or a game. Though when i looked around a bit all the vids for that anime were gone or missing. I'd like to hear more about this "Touhou".

by **411662** Sun Mar 07, 2010 4:04 am

.................................................
touhou..........
-.-........................... squidy, why did u have to make a topic about touhou, and from the looks of it, not many ppl know about it, u know that's just more work for me cause i like making detailed explinations =.=;;....

Touhou Project (東方Project, Tōhō Purojekuto)
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The Touhou Project also known as Project Shrine Maiden is a series focused on bullet hell shooting games made by the one-man developer ZUN. He created most of the graphics, music, and programming of the game.
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The games are as listed:
Touhou 1, Highly Responsive to Players
Touhou 2, Story of Eastern Wonderland
Touhou 3, Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream
Touhou 4, Lotus Land Story
Touhou 5, Mystic Square
Touhou 6, The Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil
Touhou 7, Perfect Cherry Blossom
Touhou 7.5, Immaterial and Missing Power
Touhou 8, Imperishable Night
Touhou 9, Phantasmagoria of Flower View
Touhou 9.5, Shoot the Bullet
Touhou 10, Mountain of Faith
Touhou 10.5 Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
Touhou 11, Subterranean Animism
Touhou 12, Undefined Fantastic Object
Touhou 12.3, Touhou Hisotensoku

There's also numerous fan-made Touhou games such as Touhou-mon (modified version of pokemon for GBA)
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Plot

The plot revolving around Touhou all occur in a fictional realm called Gensokyo in Japan. Long ago, it was a desolate place haunted by yōkai (a class of preternatural creatures in Japanese folklore) who preyed on lost wanderers in the area. Soon exorcists were sent into the area to resolve the problem, and they eventually settled in the area as a check on the yōkai. As humans advanced elsewhere, the yōkai's power began to deminish and they chose to seal Gensokyo away from the outside world.
The result was, the isolated community developed it's own civilization. As opposed to the outside world, magical and spiritual qualities prevailed over science while yōkai and humans coexist, they still fight each other.

Characters
I'm not going to post all the characters, I'm just going to post those with a big significance to the storyline.
*note i was GOING to try to get a character profile on every one of em...... but..... -.-.... that's gonna take forever typing out for all the characters

Alice Maragtroid
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Species: Magician
Abilities: Magic, Puppetry
Age: Unknown
Occupation: Magician
Location: Forest of Magic

Aya Shameimaru
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Species: Tengu
Abilities: Able to see/hear things from great distance, manipulation of wind.
Age: Over 1000 tears
Occupation: Newspaper writer
Location: Youkai Mountain

Byakuren Hijiri
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Species: Magician
Abilities: Ability to use magic which increases her physical abilities
Age: Unknown, at least 1000
Occupation: Monk
Location Temple of Myouren

Chen
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Species: Nekomata
Abilities: Black magical arts
Age: Unknown
Occupation: Ran's shikigami
Location: Boundary of Gensokyo

Cirno
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Species: Fairy
Abilities: Manipulation of the cold
Age: Implied to be over 60, though she's just a child in youkai terms
Occupation: Unknown
Location: Misty Lake

Eirin Yagokoro
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Species: Lunarian
Abilities: Can creat all types of medicine
Age: Unknown, much older than Kaguya, who is 1400+
Occupation: Pharmacist
Location: Eientei

Flandre Scarlet
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Species: Vampire
Abilities: Immense destructive power
Age: Approximately 495 years
Occupation: Unknown
Location: Scarlet Devil Mansion

Fujiwara no Mokou
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Species: Human
Abilities: Eternal youth and immortality
Age: ageless, but existed over 1300 years
Occupation: Rescues lost people
Location: Bamboo Forest of the Lost

Hina Kagiyama
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Species: Curse Goddess
Ability: The ability to store up curses
Age: Unknown
Occupation: Chasing away lost humans
Location: The Great Youkai Forest

Hong Meiling
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Species: Youkai
Abilities: Control Qi, Chinese Martial Arts
Age: Unknown
Occupation: Gatekeeper and Gardener of Scarlet Devil Mansion
Location: Scarlet Devil Mansion

Ichirin Kumoi
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Species: Youkai
Abilities: Power to use nyuudou
Age: At least 1000
Occupation: Guardian of the Palanquin Ship
Location: Temple of Myouren

Iku Nagae
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Species: Youkai
Abilities: Able to read the atmosphere
Age: Unknown
Occupation: Envoy of the Dragon Palace
Location: Clouds over Gensokyo

Kaguya Houraisan
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Species: Lunarian
Abilities: Manipulation of eternity and temporality
Age: Ageless, but has existed for at least 1300 years.
Location: Eientei

Kanako Yasaka
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Species: Goddess of wind and rain
Abilities: To Create Sky
Age: Unknown, but has existed for at least 2300 years
Occupation: Moriya Shrine's Goddess
Location: Wind God's Lake

Keine Kamishirasawa
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Species: Wear-hakutaku
Abilities: Consume/Hide History, Create and change history
Age: Unknown
Occupation: School Teacher
Location: The Human Village

Kogasa Tatara
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Species: Karakasa
Abilities: Surprise Humans
Age: Unknown
Occupation: Scaring People
Location: Skys of Gensokyo

Komachi Onozuka
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Species: Shinigami
Abilities: Manipulation of distance
Age: Unknown, possibly immortal
Occupation: Carrier of dead spirits
Location: Sanzu no Kawa

Marisa Kirisame
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Species: Human
Abilities: High-Level Magic
Age: Mid-teens
Occupation: Magician
Location: Forest of Magic

Nue Houjuu
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Species: Nue
Abilities: Hide True Form
Age: Unknown, more than 800
Occupation: Scarying people
Location: Temple of Myouren

Patchouli Knowledge
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Species: Magician
Abilities: Magic
Age: About 100
Occupation: Librarian
Location: Scarlet Devil Mansion

Reimu Hakurei
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Species: Human
Abilities: Sealing/Purification, Calling on the power of the Gods
Age: Mid-teens
Occupation: Shrine Maiden
Location: Hakurei Shrine

Reisen Udongein Inaba
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Species: Moon rabbit
Abillities: Lunacy inducing eyes
Age: at least 38
Occupation: Kaguya's pet
Location: Eientei

Remilia Scarlet
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Species: Vampire
Abilities: Manipulation of Fate
Age: Approximately 500
Occupation: Mistress of Scarlet Devil Mansion
Location: Scarlet Devil Mansion

Rin Kaenbyou
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Species: Kasha
Abilities: Carry away corpses
Age: Unknown
Occupation: Controller of spirits
Location: Hell of blazing fires

Sakuya Izayoi
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Species: Human
Abilities: Time manipulation
Age: Appears to be 16-20
Occupation: Maid
Location: Scarlet Devil Mansion

Sanae Kochiya
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Species: Human
Abilities: Power to cause miracles
Age: mid-teens
Occupation: Wind Priestess, Shrine Maiden
Location: Moriya Shrine

Shikieki Yamaxanabu
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Species: Yama
Abilities: Judge if something is Good or Evil
Age: Immortal
Occupation: Judge of the Dead
Location: Hell

Suika Ibuki
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Species: Oni
Abilities: Manipulation of density
Location: Somewhere in Gensokyo

Suwako Moriya
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Species: Goddess of mountains
Abilities: Creat Earth
Age: One of the oldest gods, greatly pasts 2300
Occupation: Moriya Shrine's former goddess
Location: Moriya Shrine

Utsuho Reiuji
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Species: Hell raven
Abilities: Manipulation of Nuclear Fusion
Age: Unknown
Location: Former Hell of Blazing Fires

Youmu Konpaku
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Species: Half-Human, Half-Phantom
Abilities: Swordsmanship
Age: At least 60
Occupation: Gardener
Location: Hakugyokurou

Yukari Yakumo
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Species: Youkai
Abilities: Manipulation of all boundaries
Age: At least 1200, older than the history of Gensokyo
Occupation: Sleeps mosto f the time
Location: Along the boundaries of Gensokyo

Yuyuko Saigyouji
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Species: Ghost
Abilities: Can invoke death
Age: Dead/Immortal,
Occupation: Ghost Princess
Location: Hakugyokurou

FINALLY THAT'S DONE! Even with all the information present, and pictures off Google, IT TOOK 2 HOURS TO GET ALL THAT. (I'll Type later, this killed my fingers....)
Squidy, U OWE ME 4 THIS
btw, to anyone else, o-o yes, Akane, squidy =x she'll kill ya if u do so xD im her real life friend xP

by **AkaneMishima** Sun Mar 07, 2010 9:38 am

Huhu, well if that's your explanation of Touhou, I'll bring mine in since your "detailed explanation" is just copy and pasted while I made mine from scratch (With the a tiny exception with Reimu and Marisa's introduction near the bottom). I made one specifically for these cases. Oh and Nano, you've made a lot of typos, an example of what I found was, "Highly Responsive to PLAYERS", LOL it's actually "Highly Reponsive to Prayers".

Vocabulary and facts you should know before reading this:
Doujin games= Games created by hobbyists or hobbyists groups (referred to as "doujin circles") that are made for fun, rather than profit
Team Shanghai Alice= The name may be confusing but it's not based in any way in China or Shanghai.
Otaku= A person with an obsession with games, anime and manga.
4Chan= The end of the internet, where internet memes spawn, never visit there and don't ask about there, for your own sake and sanity.
NicoNico Douga= Popular video sharing site in Japan (similar to Youtube, however with much higher quality of video).
Yōkai= A literal translation means demon, spirit or monster.

Touhou is a doujin series of Curtain fire/Bullet hell shooter games, developed by Team Shanghai Alice which consists of one member, his name is ZUN. Another aspect of Touhou is the spinoff fighting series (gameplay is similar to Street fighter and those sorts of games, however much more simplified and super moves are replaced with a spell card system), which was developed by a partnership between Team Shanghai Alice and Twilight Frontier (also referred to as Tasogare Frontier). One main feature of Touhou is, the massive amount of characters and with each character, in every game, there comes a background music for each of them.

Touhou is popular with many otaku nowadays, but it's usually kept underground with specific groups of people (more like not widespread, in a sense). It's popularity derives from the influence of 4chan, the mother of internet memes (an example of 4chan's influence is the Rickroll, which then became the McRoll, with the influence of Niconico Douga). Touhou is so popular that many doujin circles participate in remixing Touhou background music (to make great remixes and some profit). Some names of doujin circles (that I'm familiar with) that remix Touhou background music are:
IOSYS
Alstroemeria Records
East New Sound
SoundHolic
=Neutral=
dBu
Silver Forest
Cool&Create

Now that I've mentioned IOSYS, I'll go in-depth on what makes them so special. IOSYS creates fantastic flash videos of their Touhou remixes, some of them are recognized around the world (sometimes by non-otaku's), an example of an IOSYS remix is Overdrive. Another popular video that many people may have heard before or seen would be Bad Apple with stylized shadow art (or another variation of art), this song is done by Alstroemeria Records but the video is not made by them.

The plot of Touhou takes place in the fictional realm of Gensokyo (the literal translation means, Illusion Village or Fantasy Village) where strange phenomena start to take place. Long ago, Gensokyo was desolate and haunted by yōkai who preyed on lost wanderers, due to this exorcists were sent in to eliminate yōkai and eventually humans settled in Gensokyo and as humans advanced, the power of the yōkai began to fade, the yōkai decided to seal Gensokyo from the outside world and create themselves a haven. As a result of the seal, the isolated community developed its own civilization. As opposed to the outside world, magical and spiritual qualities prevailed over science and while yōkai and humans coexist, they still fight with each other. The only known gateway from the outside world into Gensokyo is the Hakurei Shrine on the border of Gensokyo. However, the seal has weakened and more humans are able to wander into Gensokyo from the outside.

The main characters of Touhou are Reimu Hakurei, the only shrine maiden of the Hakurei shrine who's main abilities are flying in the sky, good intuition and getting along with everyone; even her ex-enemies. Reimu, although naturally talented is very easy going, if not lazy and hates training; due to this, Reimu is average in offensive and magical capabilities. However, she has a strong sense of duty and if it's for the sake of Gensokyo, she can overcome any obstacle through sheer perseverance. Reimu is characterized by her homing amulets and Ying Yang Orbs. The secoundary main character of Touhou is Marisa Kirisame who lives in the Forest of Magic and she is friends with Reimu but otherwise she is solitary and spends most of her time researching magic. She is also an avid collector stuffing her house with various items, and would go "borrowing" things from others without returning them. She is selfish, sometimes violent, and has a disagreeable manner. Underneath, though, she is honest and a hard worker. This makes it strange that she is friends with Reimu, whose powers are purely from talent while she had to work very hard to get her own to the same level. Her ability is high-level destructive magic. In the games, her attacks are characterized by stars and lasers. Consistent to her "borrowing", many of her spells are lifted from other characters, such as her signature "Master Spark" which was originally Yuka's, or her "Nondirectional Laser" attack, which was originally Patchouli's attack.

Now I'll go through the Touhou games in order (well, the ones that exist currently at least) including the PC-98 ones which are 1-5 (the games that include .5 and .3 are spinoffs from the bullet hell series of Touhou):
Touhou 1: Highly Reponsive to Prayers
Touhou 2: Story of Eastern Wonderland
Touhou 3: Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream
Touhou 4: Lotus Land Story
Touhou 5: Mystic Square
Touhou 6 (here's where most people start playing Touhou): The Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil
Touhou 7: Perfect Cherry Blossom
Touhou 7.5: Immaterial and Missing Power
Touhou 8: Imperishable Night
Touhou 9: Phantasmagoria of Flower View
Touhou 9.5 (A special spinoff revolving around Aya Syameimaru and her photography): Shoot the Bullet
Touhou 10: Mountain of Faith
Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism
Touhou 12: Undefined Fantastic Object
Touhou 12.3: Touhou Hisotensoku
Touhou 12.5 Double Spoiler (Which is yet to be released yet, but is a sequel to Shoot the Bullet)

Oh and a random fact, with each Touhou game, Reimu's hair gets longer in each game (she appears in pretty much every game). Another one is, the youngest characters in Touhou are probably Reimu, Marisa, Sayuka, Sanae, Youmu, Cirno, Alice (just the characters people can most identify with) who are all humans except for Youmu, who is a half-ghost that has lived for approximately 60 years and Cirno who is around 60 years old.

As you can see, my explanation is much more in-depth, compact and much more informative than Nano's explanation (since Nano's got some missing information on some of her characters), however mine does not include pictures (I could easily add them, but I'd rather leave this post pure word, in a new post I'll make sure to add pictures of characters, don't worry, I've got good sources for images, so don't expect choppy pictures of characters *Spent a good few hours looking through 60000 different Touhou images a week or so ago*).

by **Napalmhit** Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:39 am

I got to admit....
I just went Wha....?
And, ah yes, 4chan....The asshole of the internet.

by **AkaneMishima** Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:48 am

Huhu, don't worry about understanding so quickly, even I didn't catch on to Touhou so quickly.

by **Admin** Sun Mar 07, 2010 1:28 pm

/Sigh

by **RedBunny** Sun Mar 07, 2010 1:41 pm

Such...long...posts...@_@ -Twitches and dies out-

by **Xenose** Sun Mar 07, 2010 2:44 pm

So where do you get the touhou games at? Is it a PC game or something?

by **AkaneMishima** Sun Mar 07, 2010 2:56 pm

Yep they're for the PC. You can buy them from a variety of sites (pardon me for the next bit I write if anyone's against piracy) or you can grab em from torrents or direct downloads.[color=#BF00FF]

by **Napalmhit** Sun Mar 07, 2010 3:02 pm

AkaneMishima wrote:Yep they're for the PC. You can buy them from a variety of sites (pardon me for the next bit I write if anyone's against piracy) or you can grab em from torrents, just look up Touhou (then the # your looking for) and all the games (usually) come with an English patch or is already implemented (Except for Double Spoiler which will take some time for an English patch to be released).

I don't know....
I don't think you'd have to explain how to pirate it. XD

by **AkaneMishima** Sun Mar 07, 2010 3:06 pm

True... should I go edit my post then?

by **Napalmhit** Sun Mar 07, 2010 3:18 pm

Totally up to you.
Not like I'm a mod or anything. XD

by **AkaneMishima** Sun Mar 07, 2010 3:21 pm

Hm, I guess I will. Thanks for checking o3o.

Edit: Edited the post

by **Admin** Sun Mar 07, 2010 3:28 pm

That's fine. I do it all the time, lol.

by **411662** Sun Mar 07, 2010 4:51 pm

you do know, squidy, i typed this at 1am-3am, P.S. if ur gonna make a topic about touhou which not many ppl here know about, at least explain it, -.-
yes i maid typos =O who doesn't once in a while, i typed it manually u know,
anyways.... -back to sleep-

by **RedBunny** Sun Mar 07, 2010 4:53 pm

Feel like trying it...=D Twisted Evil

by **AkaneMishima** Sun Mar 07, 2010 4:53 pm

Erm Nano, if you'd care to head back to page 1, you'll find my explanation of Touhou, I didn't have time to write out my explanation since I had to go to bed. Also I've posted a topic on Touhou remixes as well. Also Nano, if you havn't noticed I typed manually as well, I even threw in colours for fun.

by **Napalmhit** Sun Mar 07, 2010 5:36 pm

o.O
Least no one is fighting over whose is better. XD

by **411662** Sun Mar 07, 2010 7:32 pm

lol we can start it o-o
but then, it'd just be more work, and i hate using firefox -.-
squidy, i saw urs o-o i might not post much, but i read almost all the posts

by **AkaneMishima** Sun Mar 07, 2010 7:40 pm

Well if ya read my post, then you can conclude my explanation goes through all that's required and more.

by **411662** Sun Mar 07, 2010 7:56 pm

woopdidoo lol, mine has pictures so ppl can actrually see what the characters all look like xD
urs is just color xP

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