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Touhou Project

Touhou(Eastern) Project (東方Project(プロジェクト)) is a large collection of Japanese works that stem from a danmaku video game series by Team Shanghai Alice,1) a doujin circle led by Jun'ya "ZUN" Ōta, and the first entry had supposedly finished development in 1995 before it was shown off and released.2)

It's a series that receives heavy praise for its music, visuals, and extensive cast of human and humanoid characters which, depending on the exact character, may either have a lot of 'supplemental lore' or have a lot potential that is purposely left to the imagination.

Overview

For the most part, Touhou Project is set in 'Gensōkyō' (幻想郷),3) a fictional 'preserve' hidden in the Japanese mountains, and most of the works focus on resolving 'incidents' (異変, ihen) that are occasionally caused by supernatural beings in their universe, but it's not a strict formula. Some works expand on daily life, some works expand on backstories, and some works briefly shed light on the more grim aspects.

Development

As the story goes, ZUN attended Tokyo Denki, bought his first computer to create video game music, and made a couple of games under the 'ZUN Soft' label. These original entries would be retroactively called: the 'old works' (旧作, kyūsaku), the 'PC-98 version' (PC-98版, pīshī-kyūhachi ban), or the 'PC-98 games' in English. ZUN would find work at Taito, but eventually left as it frustrated him.

During this, ZUN resumed activities under the 'Team Shanghai Alice' label, and started to make video games with Microsoft Windows, thus the 'Windows version' (Windows版, Uindouzu-ban) began. Most people would retroactively regard the early-to-mid 2000s works as an 'early trilogy' (初期三部作, shoki sanbunsaku) and he'd start working with Twilight Frontier, while also releasing a number of CDs and print works.

However, the Touhou Project series would enter a 'soft reboot' with Touhou Fuujinroku in 2007 because ZUN started focusing on the worldbuilding aspect, while still sprinkling in his own 'commentary' on the world. These latter eras don't have a community nickname that's collectively agreed upon, so I'm coming up with what seems appropriate so I'm not writing 'Modern Windows Era, Part 4'.

List of substantial works

PC-98 and Windows games

Toggle list of main games.

Manga series and novels

I still have plans to do a separate article on Touhou Kourindou and the Music CDs, so my notes can be more thorough than usual.

  • Touhou Kourindou (2004–07, 2015–)
    A long series of side stories about Rinnosuke's antique store Kourindou and his inner monologue.
  • Touhou Sangetsusei (2005–06, 2006–09, 2009–12, 2016–19)
    A mostly light-hearted manga about the Three Fairies of Light and their shenanigans.
  • Touhou Bougetsushou (2007–09)
    A highly ambitious, multimedia work that expands Touhou Eiyashou's lore with the Lunar Capital.
  • Touhou Ibarakasen (2010–19)
    A manga that focuses on Kasen Ibaraki and the role that she might've had in the past.
  • Touhou Suzunaan (2012–17)
    A somewhat light-hearted manga that focuses on Kosuzu Motoori's naivety and the 'youma' books.
  • Touhou Chireikiden (2019–)
    A manga that focuses on Satori Komeiji solving mysteries in Gensōkyō, except…
  • Touhou Suichouka (2019–)
    A manga that focuses on Miyoi Okunoda, the Poster Girl of Gedontei, and the bar she works at.

Criticisms

The purpose of this section is to point out that criticism exists.
Please do not interpret this section as a 'personal' rant,4) or use this to fuel your half-baked overreactions or lazy trolling attempts.

Most of the valid criticisms for Touhou Project include points like: any perceived 'regression' of newer games, the somewhat spontaneous worldbuilding, the 'doujin' attribute,5) the minimal character development which allows fans to 'carry' the series in a way,6) any perceived 'missed potential',7) their history of 'day one' patches, the price,8) etc. However, much of these are excusable, subjective, or lacking in substance.

On the other hand, there are criticisms which feel more 'personal' or 'tangentially related' as they focus on the vast community, rather than the source material due to the built-in overlap.9) You can vaguely claim that the series is perpetually dying, which people have been doing since 2009, but the author has very little control over how internet communities form without overreaching.

Notes

  • During the early Windows trilogy, Touhou Project had the alternative English name of Project Shrine Maiden, which is visible on the boot-up screen (except for Touhou Kaeizuka) and credits.
  • In the past, ZUN *used to* hesitate to call Touhou Project a 'series', as the numbering hasn't meant anything and, to paraphrase, he basically wanted to avoid the negative connotations of 'sequel' since he was aware that fans of his older works won't always like his newer works.10)11)12)
    • This might be related to his review of Gradius V on July 29, 2004, considering that he admitted that he probably wouldn't have played said game if it wasn't part of the Gradius series.13)
    • Personally, I'd interpret this as ZUN designing every Touhou Project game to be a 'standalone' entry, allowing newcomers to jump in without needing any prior knowledge of the series.
  • The manga portion of Touhou Bougetsushou was 'contentious' at the time because it introduced new characters who easily beat the 'fan favorite' characters, and this shredded 'powerscaling' discussions for quite a while until powerscaling became discouraged or the events of Touhou Kanjuden occur.
  • While Touhou Project is technically copyrighted, the derivative work guidelines are famously lenient.14)
    • The doujin circle's copyright has been managed by 'Fumio Oyamada' (小山田文雄, Oyamada Fumio) since October 2010.15) The legal representative is better known as @Ruw on Twitter.
  • It isn't a secret that the Touhou Project community is diverse and massive, but this vastness has made it notoriously difficult to find 'common ground' or people on the same 'wavelength' as you.
    • There's a Japanese meme about how you can have a folklore enthusiast, a person who loves the community's fan works, a porn connoisseur, and a person that just likes ZUN in the same room, yet they always seem to gravitate to discussing gacha games because of the discrepency.
    • In addition, some Touhou Project doujin events in Japan have had problems with their R-18 aisles16) being stuffed away from the main traffic as the demographic range keeps getting younger.

See also

Just check the front page. 

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1)
The 'Shanghai Alice Fantasy Ensemble' (上海アリス幻樂団, Shanhai Arisu Gengakudan) uses the English name of 'Team Shanghai Alice' which has stuck around, unlike the 'Project Shrine Maiden' name.
2)
For some reason, ZUN makes a nitpick that Touhou Reiiden finished development in 1995, before it was unveiled at the 20th 'Hatoyama Matsuri' (鳩山祭) around November 3–4, 1996, then their first commercial sales were alongside Touhou Fuumaroku at Comiket 52 on August 15, 1997.
3)
The term 'Gensōkyō' (幻想郷) is commonly translated as 'Fantasy Land' (Land of Fantasy), but a case could be made for 'Illusion Land' (Land of Illusions) or 'Imaginary Land' (Land of the Imaginary/Imagined).
4)
Honestly, some of these criticisms feel more like “Oh my God, who the hell cares?” and I could easily write about something more engaging (e.g. the community, the 'new game' spectacle), but choose not to.
5)
The term 'doujin' is often misunderstood. It's applied to games that major retailers normally wouldn't have, but the applicability is up for debate when you look at Touhou Project's copyright and legal stuff. ZUN has described 'doujin' as a culture that 'borrows things without permission', but a disingenuous troll or foreigner can easily misconstrue this as 'plagiarism' when it's actually viewed as an 'inspiration' instead.
6)
Some characters enjoy a wealth of content, while others have 'just enough' to work with, so they aren't just one-dimensional characters in a mindless CGDCT wonderland, but they might rely on some degree of fan speculation as it's tough to rely on vague lore drops. On the other hand, an optimist would view the series as a malleable 'sandbox' and suggest that derivative interpretations is what makes it enjoyable.
7)
At some point, there will be somebody who believes that a series has 'missed potential' after it changes its direction, which usually stems from a belief that the series has deviated from their 'nostalgic' or 'idealized' vision that they had for it in a much earlier state. These people should not be parents. However, there is some degree of substance because the storytelling or worldbuilding actually changes every now and then.
8)
Each individual game costs about $11–15 on Steam, which does quickly add up if you're trying to get a collection going. On the other hand, this is nothing when you remember that modern video games are $60–80 with microtransactions or subscriptions, plus most of you pirate the damn games anyways.
9)
There have always been complains about: the early trilogy's oversaturation, the powerscaling, the shipping content, the content farmers, the ancient memes being regurgitated, the fictosexuals, the sweatlords, the gatekeepers, the grimdark nerds, the kids who think 'grimdark = mature' but have not matured enough to know why nobody takes them seriously, etc. And yet, none of this has anything to do with the source material.
10)
"―特集―　シューティングの方法論 第2回" (2005). 4gamer.
11)
"ZUN's Gensou Denshou Lecture" (November 3, 2007). Touhou Wiki.
12)
"Strange Creators of Outer World/Introduction of Previous Works/Mountain of Faith/Mountain of Faith Interview with ZUN" (October 31, 2017). Touhou Wiki.
13)
"グラＶは" [Mirror] (July 29, 2004). Touhou Shofu.
14)
"Copyrights". Touhou Wiki.
15)
"ZUNこと太田順也氏(同氏は株式会社香霖堂の現代表取締役。) が運営管理する、同人サークル上海アリス幻樂団公式Blogにおけ る「ホワイトキャンバスさんでの上海アリス幻樂団作品の取り扱い一 時休止について」と題するコメント(2011年12月20日 13 時11分)に対する弊社の見解" [Mirror] (December 21, 2011). White Canvas.
16)
The technical Japanese term is 'R-18 Island' (R18島) or 'Eromanga Island' (エロマンガ島).
touhou_project.txt · Last modified: by namelessrumia