/jp/ - Otaku Culture

[Anonymous No.]

Hello, /jp/. I've been a lurkfag for some time now and I've seen many Touhou threads come and go. All the interesting pictures and lore, but I've never really had a grasp of what I was reading here.

You see, I've played all Touhou games. Still regularly do. But there's a truckload of content out there that I feel like I'm missing out, and I'm basically a newfag to Touhou, having started playing only last year. For example, I don't really understand the land of Gensokyo, I don't understand the characters's personalities, I don't get the lore, where they came from... I want to learn more here, and I feel like reading the dialogue in the games isn't cutting out to me.

I'm sure there's a lot of manga or doujin out there that have good storyline aspects and explanations, which I would like to hear. What I'm asking for here, is that someone introduct me to this untouched part of Touhou I've never been to. Any videos, manga, fanbooks, just basically anything that helps me understand this universe better.

I have nothing to give back but my thanks, so you don't need to help me if you don't want to. But I'd appreciate it.

Picture related [?] Youmu and Yuyuko look cool so related.

[Anonymous No.]

>>5580883
I meant fan-created story arcs.

[Anonymous No.]

>>5580868
It's really up to the reader's imagination because of how ambiguous the lore is, which is why there is such a large amount of different story arcs.

[Anonymous No.]

Theres a couple official works, a bunch of "side-books" mainly describing characters in detail.

90% of Touhou is fan-created. There isn't much to "get" besides truckloads of memes.

[Anonymous No.]

Fan created works are exactly what I'm looking for, and I'm pretty sure ZUN did some stuff himself.

[Anonymous No.]

http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Touhou_Wiki

Print works.

[Anonymous No.]

You want to know more about the lore (which is a official thing of something) by reading fan-made works?

There is nothing to learn from fanon except stupid memes and other stuff that are not official.

[Anonymous No.]

Gensokyo is separated from our world by the Great Barrier, which separates Fantasy from Reality(What we humans want to believe to exist).

Imagine a caveman, named Joe. It is a cold, dark, stormy night, and Joe is scared shitless. He fears that something nasty and with sharp nails will eat him. From that fear, a youkai is born.

The morning comes, and it is a bright day, with fresh water everywhere. Joe is hungry, and is looking for food. Deep down, Joe really wishes for someone to look after him. To his luck, he finds a bush full of tasty berries. From this wish, the God of Berry Bushes is born.

[Anonymous No.]

I'm interested in the official works, but I'm pretty interested in the fan-works as well.

I mean, you guys say like there's a lot of memes, but I've heard a couple of manga here and I really liked them. I felt like they conveyed good story every now and then, showing a typical day on the life of gensokyo's citizens. At that moment, I felt like I could understand them a little better, so I've interested myself.

[Anonymous No.]

>>5580915
This is the most accurate depiction of how youkai/gods are created.

[Anonymous No.]

>>5580936
As long as you don't mistake those as official stuff....


Look at that link anon posted earlier.

[Anonymous No.]

If you want to understand where the characters came from, read some Japanese folktales or Shinto texts, and then get massively drunk on cheap shit beer.

[Anonymous No.]

>>5580936

*Read. I need to learn to pay attention to my sentences when it's midnight because of fatigue.

>>5580915

That's... a pretty good explanation. I'm ashamed to admit that I understood all of it.

[Anonymous No.]

>>5580936

Too bad it's fanon bullshit, not canon.

[Anonymous No.]

>>5580951

I'm not really mindful of that. I mean, by now, everyone probably already have a baseline for all the character's personalities.

For example, I've read somewhere that Reimu is supposed to be easygoing (don't know that for sure, though) so the majority of the fan works out there are going to convey Reimu as an easygoing shrime maiden. It's this baseline that I believe make fan work somewhat "official" for me.

That's why I'm interested. It really is the door here for me.

[Anonymous No.]

>>5580982
Not at all. In fact most fans think the fanon personalities are official personalities and that's just dumb.

For example: Alice.

[Anonymous No.]

>>5580988

It's true that some of the character's personalities have been twisted. But you know, ZUN doesn''t seems particularly against it and I sort of like this Alice's personality where she's lonely and desperately looking for Marisa's affection. Not that I'm completely agreeing with the fan personality, mind you. I just have nothing against it.

[Anonymous No.]

>>5581021
I'm not against it as long as people know canon facts about her personality. And 90% of the times that's not the case, I can't help but hate people who assume fanon as canon and can't draw a line between.


As for what you are asking: Go read Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth. It will give a pretty good perspective about Eientei, especially Reisen and Tewi. And it's official work.

[Scandaroon No.]

>>5581045

Devote Touhou time to..

>Eientei

[Fujiwara no Mokou !!mGXYMm0qKk/ No.]

>>5580988
The tricky thing here is that ZUN himself might be ok with some fanon personalities, or even secretly like them. For example, Suwako was not necessarily loli in her game design, being the Highest Native God and all, but fans portrayed her as one due to funky hat, and ZUN liked it enough to make her one officially in the fighting games.

Of course, it's preferable that people know the canon personalities, but since he plays the game, he does. And it's possible to have one's own interpretation of the personalities. Actually, I think that's the best way to start. Don't read about fanon, don't read about canon. Just play the game, read their lines, and judge for yourself what you think the characters are like first.

[Anonymous No.]

>>5580988
Alice is the best example, they blew her character way out of proportion..

Thats basically what they do with -every- character, they take a vague representation of their attitude and blast it to the extreme.

Laid back shrine priestess? SHE MUST BE SUPER LAZY AND NEVER DO ANYTHING.
Loner likes to make dolls? SHE MUST BE SO SAD AND RONERY AND TSUNDERE ;_;
Change in artist between two games? SHE MUST PAD HER BRA, PADSPADSPADS.

Although Marisa is pretty spot-on.


And dont even get started with Cirno, jesus christ.

[Anonymous No.]

>>5581063

Aah. All the chapters are in the wikia with download links. I'll start reading that. I'm actually damn interested on just how Reisen came from the moon or something, and how she met tewi and stuff.

[Fujiwara no Mokou !!mGXYMm0qKk/ No.]

>>5581066
>And dont even get started with Cirno, jesus christ.
But ZUN was responsible for this one.

[Anonymous No.]

>>5580915
As far as I know, the Barrier separates the Fantasy Gensokyo from the Real Gensokyo, which as far as I know is full of housing projects and skyscrapers. But Fantasy Gensokyo used to be a real place, and youkai still exist outside of it. On the other hand, Rinnosuke seems to think that things that become fantastic in the real world become real in Gensokyo, so I have no idea.

[Scandaroon No.]

>>5581079

>and how she met tewi and stuff

She ran away from the lunar war and took refuge with Kaguya. There.

[Anonymous No.]

>>5581079
You won't find that out. InabaxInaba is more like a daily life of the eientei inhabitants, with some special 'guests' sometimes.

If you read the character profiles from the wikia you will know more about them. Go read ALL of them, those pages also contain fanon information and other stuff.

[Anonymous No.]

Well, going to sleep now. I hope this thread is still alive when I come back.

Which is probably a 1% chance or something, with all the threads people make for giggles on /jp/, all the other threads simply get knocked away.

Anyway, thanks for that recommendation, whoever anon recomended me to read Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth. You're pretty much the only person that recommended me something.

[Scandaroon No.]

>>5581157

Why don't you suck his dick while you're at it?

[Anonymous No.]

>>5581167
oh you Scandaroon.

[Anonymous No.]

Oh yeah, and thanks to the people who explained some of the lore to me too! It makes a little more sense to me now.