/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Happy new year !

>>20565487
I am! It gives it good flavor!

>>20344170
I'm not really sure I get your criticism. What exactly is it? That the story is thin/the characters don't develop?

Largely Touhou is episodic to the games, slice of life or mystery to the manga. All but mystery are pretty cut and dry you like it or you don't. That said the storylines of recent games have been pretty compelling, but even if earlier ones were often straightforward that doesn't make them bad in any way. A story doesn't need to be more than simple in order to be good.

As for character, there's nothing wrong with static ones. Lets ignore the youkai in the series for the most part, as youkai being consistently youkai is what MAKES them youkai. Look at Reimu and Marisa, then. Marisa actually does go through changes, and although she's rather silly shows herself to be the more mature/responsible of the two over time. As for Reimu unironically what makes her interesting is that she's static. I'll never really get why "character development always good" is a common opinion. Reimu's character being firm, unyieldingly "her" is both the source of her strength and the source of her appeal. She's an uncompromising person based on her own values and judgments. Well, largely uncompromising. It's amusing and compelling because it's weird. Reimu is INCREDIBLY weird, when you look at the fact that her worldview is "keep the world as it is" even though that definitely means "keep humanity oppressed/youkai satisfied". At least to a degree, the real idea is the push and pull balance of their world. Maybe she just wants to keep fantasy alive, but at any rate she does as she feels she must above all else.

That said no, character development isn't much of a thing in Touhou and I don't see why it ought to be to prove quality or to prove it as interesting or something. A shitload of characters are incredibly interesting. At least one legitimately shows significant and subtle development over real time years, turning from a standoffish cunt to a heroic figure willing to defy her master not out of cowardice as before, but out of a sense of moral obligation to her new home (Reisen).

If you want to examine even one character, even from early in the series, who is extremely complex but hasn't changed since her appearance: look at Ibuki Suika. Essentially once upon a time one of Gensokyo's four queens, led an exodus out of the land because her people were being slaughtered by humans (crafting an excuse that oni were simply bored with Gensokyo, although narration confirms the issue was with humanity's lying), but after spending an age forgotten she returns to the aboveground despite having left allegedly tragically because she wants to bring her people BACK to Gensokyo, and her outlook is incredibly positive, but perhaps rather naive (I'll throw a huge party and hopefully the other oni will come back to the surface with me). All of this is conveyed in a single game, even though on the surface she's just "drunk oni loli".

This isn't even getting into why characters are just amusing or entertaining without complication, such as the massive dork that everyone makes fun of: Youmu, or the unapologetic brat Tenshi. It's a shit ton of personalities you don't see often, executed amusingly, regularly thought about more than you would've assumed for a drunkard to have done, and yeah.

Touhou is neat.