Touhou Igyoukyou(Grotesque Land) (東方異形郷(いぎょうきょう)),¹⁾ commonly shortened to Igyou (異形), is a fan-made Touhou Project horror series by “Sushi Yuusha Toro” (寿司勇者トロ)²⁾ that began on April 27, 2014.³⁾ At the time of this writing, it has been on hiatus and currently has a runtime of about 6.3 hours.

In the English community, Touhou Igyoukyou has the unofficial fan subtitle of “Grotesque Land Story” (GLS)⁴⁾ and the translation efforts tend to vary in quality, including the handling of “igyou” (異形),⁵⁾ basic language or lore mistakes,⁶⁾ excessive commentary,⁷⁾ etc.

The story begins with several characters gathered at the Hakurei Shrine, preparing for a banquet, and they believe that Reimu went out shopping. As the sun descends, a strange Reimu-like entity returns instead, notably with an intent to 'kill' rather than use spell cards, and this catches everyone off-guard. We are shown glimpses of how the incident is affecting Gensōkyō and the story branches from there.

Toggle chart with the 'intended' format and branching paths.

Toggle chart with the 'chronological' order, along with other details.

Grotesque Abandoned Garden (異形の廃園, Igyō no Haien) is a 165-page unreleased doujinshi which was planned to be released at Reitaisai 13 on May 8, 2016, but there were several issues⁸⁾⁹⁾ and it ended up being uploaded to Pixiv on November 17, 2018.¹⁰⁾ The story occurs in a parallel multiverse, not related to the main story, where Igyōkyō is attacked by a Chūnibyō-themed “Gensōkyō”.¹¹⁾¹²⁾

The story begins on April 27th, 2014,^13)14)15) where Reimu planned to have a banquet at the Hakurei Shrine and Koishi had planned to visit Flandre. Within the Forest of Magic, Alice starts her day at 6:05am,¹⁶⁾ then 3:52pm¹⁷⁾ and 3:56pm¹⁸⁾ seem to pass without any incident. However, the 4 o'clock hour is when the incident roughly begins¹⁹⁾ and Daiyousei gets attacked by an Igyō Fairy after 4:07pm.²⁰⁾

Over the radio, Aya reports that she visited the Hakurei Shrine at 4:30pm, saw that it was bloody and empty, then followed a trail of blood into the Bamboo Forest of the Lost.²¹⁾ In the 6 o'clock hour, Igyō Sakuya gives her sitrep to Demon King Remilia,²²⁾ while Marisa and Alice take a short break at 6:30pm.²³⁾²⁴⁾ At some point, Flandre learns that 10:00pm is when the Demon King plans to arrive at Koumakan.²⁵⁾

During the entire incident, the clock tower at Koumakan has been fixed to 2:00pm,^26)27)28)29) which could be an oversight or an intentional detail. As a result, we don't have any timestamps for Igyō Minoriko attacking Patchouli or Meiling discovering that Flandre had snuck out, but we can reasonably deduce that Marisa finally arrives to Koumakan with Remilia after 6:30pm because of the short break.

The number “427” is a significant number that is seen in Touhou Igyoukyou, and presumably stems from the first video's release date of April 27th, 2014. When asked about its significance, the author replied that it's meant to be a nod to Final Destination's use of “180”³⁰⁾³¹⁾ to foreshadow deaths and misfortune. However, this detail seemed to widely overlooked, so here's the list of the ones that I had noticed:

• Flandre Route #1 - April 27th, 2014 was the day that Koishi would've played with Flandre.³²⁾
• Meiling Route #2 - Koakuma pulls out the Dyson,³³⁾ the 427th Magical Item.³⁴⁾
• Mokou Route #1 - Eirin admits and declares that Kaguya was Eientei's 427th failed homunculus.³⁵⁾
• Rumia Route #1 - Yukari laments that Rumia had accurately predicted April 27th.³⁶⁾
• Flandre Route #2 - In the first hallucination, the stall graffiti changes from '495'³⁷⁾ to '427'.³⁸⁾
• Rumia Route #2 - Yuuka brings up Yukari's warnings about April 27th.³⁹⁾
• Mokou Route #3 - Koakuma, under Igyō Sanae's curse, had been forced to mention Route 427.⁴⁰⁾

Now, the story occurs in the “Sixth Gensōkyō” (第六幻想郷),⁴¹⁾⁴²⁾ and the Gensōkyō–Igyōkyō War apparently spans back to the “Destruction of the Third Gensōkyō” (第三回幻想破壊).⁴³⁾⁴⁴⁾ We are also told that it had been 2459 years⁴⁵⁾ since the “Destruction of the Fifth Gensōkyō” (第五幻想破壊).⁴⁶⁾ Furthermore, Igyō Keine calls Mokou the sixth, implying she killed five past iterations.⁴⁷⁾

We also learn that history repeats, as with Cirno's defeat of the Igyō Fairies,⁴⁸⁾ but we also learn that history can be changed. In the Sixth Gensokyo, Mokou singes the Igyō Keine,⁴⁹⁾ and Rumia's death is averted with EX Rumia's awakening.⁵⁰⁾ The details behind EX Rumia's awakening is vague and we are left to presume that some past iteration of Rumia,⁵¹⁾ who faced Igyō Sakuya, had to be involved in some way.⁵²⁾⁵³⁾

With the Gensōkyō–Igyōkyō War, we get a general idea of Igyōkyō's factions. Our earliest list originally came from Igyō Minoriko,⁵⁴⁾ which we do have silhouettes of,⁵⁵⁾ then we get an updated list from Igyō Sakuya.⁵⁶⁾ However, both of these lists are not completely the same and ignore the Elite Fairies. In addition, fans are still trying to figure out which label applies to which character(s).

Toggle the list of Igyōkyō factions.

• When the series began, the latest fully released Touhou Project work was Touhou Kishinjou.
  • Regarding the inevitable problem of newer Touhou Project works being released, Toro has stated that they don't really like to alter the story,⁵⁷⁾ but have been open to minor additions.
• The author is a fan of Sentakubune and Koishi Komeiji's Heart-Throbbing Adventure, so it isn't a huge surprise that the two communities overlap and one series inspired the other.
• During the Cirno Route, we are introduced to two original characters, one of them being borrowed:
  • “Vinca Wars” (ヴィンカワーズ) is a fan character who predates Touhou Igyoukyou,⁵⁸⁾ initially as a bait character during the Fairy Wars pre-release hype. Named after the vinca rosea.
  • “Teena Flavor” (ティーナ・フレーバー), alternatively “Tina Flavor”, is a fan character who was first introduced in Touhou Igyoukyou. She is a tea fairy.
• In the Patchouli Route, the Marisa and Remilia who arrives at Koumakan⁵⁹⁾ are actually Igyō Mamizou and Igyō Nue,⁶⁰⁾ thus the reveal and why the Marisa Route plays out very differently.⁶¹⁾
• Igyō Marisa has three cards with Reimu, Cirno, and Alice. Reimu was crossed out,⁶²⁾ then we see that Cirno gets crossed out after Igyō Marisa alludes to Cirno being too important.⁶³⁾
• During the Sakuya Route, there are 'deceased portraits' (遺影, iei) for Utsuho and Koishi.⁶⁴⁾ It's worth noting that the Koishi Route is still planned, so we may find the reason at some point.
• At the end of the Cirno Route, Cirno has an intense vision of Igyō Cirno⁶⁵⁾ despite never meeting.
  • Some have speculated that Cirno reviving with Igyō Cirno's remains⁶⁶⁾ meant that she had inherited Igyō Cirno's power and memories. I personally don't subscribe to this theory.
• In the Flandre Route, she accurately suspects that the Remilia was an imposter.⁶⁷⁾ The viewers would have noticed as Remilia hasn't been able to speak since the Prologue.
• Igyō Sanae has ties to “Haitani City” (灰谷市, Haitani-shi),⁶⁸⁾ literally “Ash Valley City”. The author has revealed that she had no friends⁶⁹⁾ and had been thrown off the roof three times.⁷⁰⁾

• Koishi Komeiji's Heart-Throbbing Adventure - Main inspiration.

• Touhou Igyoukyou, Table of Contents on Niconico Douga - The playlist.
  • Sushi Yuusha Toro on YouTube - The videos are also uploaded here!
  • Sushi Yuusha Toro on Pixiv
  • @toro_yori_ebi on Twitter
• Touhou Igyoukyou on Niconico Encyclopedia [JA]
• Touhou Igyoukyou on Pixiv Encyclopedia [JA]
• Touhou Igyoukyou on Moegirl Encyclopedia [ZH]
• Touhou Igyoukyou on Namu Wiki [KO]