Touhou Project

TheTouhou Project(Japanese:東方Project,Hepburn:Tōhō Purojekuto), also known simply asTouhou(東方, meaning "Eastern" or "Oriental"), is abullet hellshoot 'em upvideo gameseries created byindependentJapanesedoujinsoftdeveloperTeam Shanghai Alice. The team's sole member,Jun'ya "ZUN" Ōta, has independently developed programming, graphics, writing, and music for the series, publishing 19 mainline games and 13spin-offssince 1997. ZUN has also produced relatedprint worksandmusic albums, and collaborated withdoujindeveloperTwilight Frontieron seven of the official spin-offs, six of which arefighting games.
The first five games were developed for the JapaneseNEC PC-9800computer, with the first,Highly Responsive to Prayers, released in August 1997; the series' signaturedanmaku(弾幕,lit.'bullet curtain') mechanics were introduced in the second game,Story of Eastern Wonderland(also 1997). The release ofEmbodiment of Scarlet Devilin August 2002 marked a shift toMicrosoft Windows. Numerous sequels followed, including several spin-offs departing from the traditional shoot 'em up format.
TheTouhou Projectis set in Gensokyo,a land sealed from the outside world and primarily inhabited by humans andyōkai, legendary creatures from Japanese folklore that are personified asbishōjoin ananthropomorphicmoestyle.Reimu Hakurei, themikoof theHakurei Shrineand the main character of the series, is often tasked with resolving supernatural "incidents" caused in and around Gensokyo; she is joined byMarisa Kirisameafter the events of the second game.
TheTouhou Projecthas become more particularly notable as a prominent source of Japanesedoujincontent, with the series spawning a vast amount of fan-made works such asartwork,music,print works,video games, andInternet memes. Because of this, it has gained a largecult followingoutside of Japan. The popularity of the series and its derivative works has been attributed in part to the few restrictions placed by ZUN on the use of his content. Unofficial works are frequently sold atfan conventions, includingComiket, where the franchise has frequently held the record for circle participation, and the official convention Reitaisai, where trial versions of the official games are typically distributed prior to release.
In the games, the player's bullet power increases on a linear scale as the player collects power-ups dropped by enemies, and eventually maxes out. The player can also collect "point" icons to earn extra lives; the amount needed grows exponentially as the player's score rises. The player can enter "focus mode" by holding the shift key by default, which slows down the player's movement, makes theirhitboxvisible (fromPerfect Cherry Blossomonwards), and generally focuses the player's attack to make it more powerful. The graze counter (missing fromMountain of Faith,Story of Eastern Wonderland, andUnconnected Marketeers) tracks how many bullets entered the character sprite but avoided the hitbox, rewarding the player with a score bonus for taking risks.
The player can use a "bomb" or "spell card", similar to the "bomb" in many other shooting games. Although the player has a limited number at any given time, losing a life replenishes the current number of bombs up to a certain amount. With some exceptions, use of a bomb will make the user temporarily invulnerable, clear many of the bullets, and cause heavy damage to any enemies on screen. The overall effect the bomb has varies by character and by game. The player can use one during a short period after being hit by a bullet (called a "deathbomb")to avoid loss of a life. The amount of time the player has available to deathbomb is usually around 0.3 seconds (8 frames). Bosses have attack phases, which are also referred to as spell cards, but with bosses the term applies to a prolonged pattern of movements and shots that last until the player depletes the boss' health by a certain amount or the time runs out.
Each individual game of the main series fromPerfect Cherry BlossomtoWily Beast and Weakest Creaturehas additional items that affect some aspect of gameplay, such as scoring or gaining extra lives/bombs. For example,Perfect Cherry Blossomhas "cherry points", which are used mostly in scoring, but can grant temporary invulnerability (known as the "supernatural border");Imperishable Nighthas "time points", which are essential for advancing to later stages, and also determine if the player gets to challenge a boss's 'final spell' on normal or higher difficulties;Mountain of Faithhas "faith" points, which boost the score the player receives upon gathering point items and bonuses for clearing spell cards without dying or using a spell card.
Each mainTouhou Projectgame has four difficulty levels ("easy", "normal", "hard", and "lunatic") with each one being harder than the previous. Regardless of difficulty choice, there are six stages in each game that become progressively harder. The only exceptions to this areStory of Eastern Wonderland, which has only five stages, andLotus Land StoryandEmbodiment of Scarlet Devil, both of which lock the player out of the sixth stage on easy difficulty.
In addition to the four main difficulties, there is an extra stage, unlocked after completing the game without using anycontinues. The extra stage is more difficult than "normal" and less difficult than "hard", and contains an especially long boss fight (usually with ten spell cards). Bosses in extra stages are usually immune to bombs. Some games in the series require a one-credit clear on Normal or above to unlock the extra stage, while on others, it can be done on any difficulty. InPerfect Cherry Blossom, there is a phantasm extra stage where the difficulty is increased even further. The phantasm stage is accessed by beating the extra stage and capturing at least 60 spells with any of the characters and weapon types combined.
The plots of theTouhou Projectrevolve around the strangephenomenathat occur in the fictional realm of Gensokyo(幻想郷,Gensōkyō, literally Fantasy Village or Fantasy Land), which ZUN designed as a human village in some remote mountain recesses in Japan. Originally, it was simply called "a remote separated land of a human village in an eastern country." Long before theTouhou Project's story begins, many non-humans likeyōkailived with some humans in the area. After a few humans disappeared into Gensokyo, many humans became afraid of approaching this area, while others settled there to exterminateyōkai. However, as time went on, humans developed civilization and multiplied in number, and thusyōkaiworried about how the balance between humans andyōkaiwould be affected. 500 years beforeEmbodiment of Scarlet Devil(EoSD), theyōkaisage Yukari Yakumo developed the "boundary of phantasm and substance," which was favored by the yōkai and protected the balance. This was called the "Yōkai Expansion Project" and made Gensokyo a phantasmal world that automatically called out to the weakenedyōkaiof the outside world. Other things that disappear from the outside world, like extinct animals, lost tools, and architecture, appear in Gensokyo. Since Gensokyo was a plot of land in Japan that is separated by a barrier, it is Japan that is immediately outside of this barrier.
As a result of the seal, Gensokyo became inaccessible from the outside world, and similarly, those in Gensokyo were unable to leave. Gensokyo's existence could not be confirmed from the outside world, nor could the outside world be confirmed within Gensokyo. As a result, the isolated community developed its own civilization, independent from the outside world. Although separated by a barrier, it is a bordering world to its outside, as opposed to being in aparallel universe. There are no seas in Gensokyo, since it is landlocked. In Gensokyo, there are few humans, and various kinds ofyōkai. Some species include magicians, beasts, therianthropes, vampires,bōrei,tengu, mermaids,kappa, andyōkai(a kind of miscellaneous group). There are others species that could beyōkaidepending on definition, like fairies, spirits,yūrei,onryō, poltergeists, hermits,oni, and gods which are all portrayed in human female form.
In present Gensokyo, presented in allTouhou Projectgames since EoSD, magical and spiritual qualities prevail compared to the outside world where unscientific phenomena were dismissed as "superstition" around the time of theMeiji era. The only known gateway from the outside world into Gensokyo is the Hakurei Shrine on the border of Gensokyo. The spell card rules were also established to keep up the relationship between humans andyōkaiin a mock style, which was necessary for the preservation of the balance of Gensokyo. The "Great Hakurei Barrier," managed by past Hakureimiko, was constructed several decades before EoSD, which is described as a "barrier of common sense," and is thus a strong logical barrier that not evenyōkaican pass through. Theyōkaiopposed its construction at first before understanding its usefulness.
In Gensokyo, events called "incidents" occur once in a while. An incident is an event that affects all of Gensokyo and is of unknown cause at the time it occurs.TheTouhouProjectmainly focuses on incidents that affects the entirety of Gensokyo in its stories, but there are also works likeMountain of Faiththat are centered on lesser-scale events.
Frequently, incidents are due to ayōkai'swhim or curiosity, and usually Reimu Hakurei would go to investigate it and find and chastise the perpetrator. While Reimu is usually the one to resolve incidents, there are cases where Marisa Kirisame and other characters would resolve them.When a major incident occurs, the spirits and fairies are affected by the incident and experience an increase in power for the duration of the incident.
Though each game features a collection of different characters, the main protagonist of the series is alwaysReimu Hakurei, joined byMarisa Kirisameafter the second game. Exceptions to this includeShoot the BulletandDouble Spoiler(Aya Shameimaruis playable in both, andHatate Himekaidoucan become playable inDouble Spoiler),Fairy Wars(which hasCirnoas the sole playable character),Impossible Spell CardandGold Rush(where onlySeija Kijinis playable),Violet Detector(where onlySumireko Usamiis playable) and100th Black Market(where only Marisa is playable).
Jun'ya "ZUN" Ōta, who was then a mathematics student atTokyo Denki Universityworking under the name "ZUN Soft", developed the first fiveTouhou Projectgames for thePC-98computer, utilizing the platform's16-bit colorgraphics and 6-channelFM synthesisaudio. The games were published by Amusement Makers, a student game development club that Ōta was a member of.
After the release ofMystic Square, ZUN graduated from university and the series became inactive for four years. During this time, he worked atTaitoas a game developer and also composed music for various games created by members of Amusement Makers. He left the group in 2001 to focus on game development forMicrosoft Windows, forming the one-mandōjincircleTeam Shanghai Aliceand self-publishing all subsequent games. According to ZUN, the Windows games represent a "clean slate" for the series canon, albeit with many carry-overs and references from the PC-98 era.Games numbered with decimals are spin-offs from the main series that vary in genre.
Twelve music CDs were released as part of "ZUN's Music Collection". They are numbered from Volume 1 to 10 by release date, withUnknown Flower, Mesmerizing JourneyandRainbow-Colored Septentrionbeing numbered as 5.5 and 9.5 respectively due to their short playing time. Each album contains arrangements of music from the games as well as new compositions:
Each album (exceptDolls in Pseudo Paradise,Unknown Flower, Mesmerizing Journey,andRainbow-Colored Septentrion) includes a booklet written by ZUN documenting the activities of the "Secret Sealing Club"(秘封倶楽部,Hifū Kurabu), a self-described "club of necromancers" inKyoto, Japan. In the loose collection of stories, club membersRenko UsamiandMaribel Hearnresearch and discuss various topics related to Gensokyo and the paranormal;Dolls in Pseudo Paradiseincludes an unrelated story about the fate of eight thieves spirited away to Gensokyo.
In 2006 and 2007, ZUN releasedAkyu's Untouched Score(幺樂団の歴史,Yōgakudan no Rekishi, "History of Yougakudan"), a five-volume collection of PC-98 soundtracks that includes several unused themes. The albums respectively coverLotus Land Story,Mystic Square,Story of Eastern Wonderland,Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream, andHighly Responsive to Prayers. Each track in the collection was enhanced with the addition of a sixthFM synthesischannel, which was originally reserved for sound effects in the games:
Original soundtracks for the seven official games developed in collaboration with Twilight Frontier have also been released. The first six games are mainly scored by U2 Akiyama(あきやま うに,Akiyama Uni)whileSunken Fossil Worldis mainly scored by Ziki_7, in addition to a few original compositions by ZUN for each game. In addition, the day time music inImmaterial and Missing Powerare scored by NKZ, andUrban Legend in LimboandAntinomy of Common Flowersfeature guest arrangements by severaldōjincreators:
ZUN's Music Collection,Akyu's Untouched Score, and the fighting game soundtracks have been released for digital download onGoogle Playand theiTunes Store(Japan, US). Several music CDs have accompanied copies of official print works; these are listed below.
TheTouhou Projectis a one-man project by Jun'ya Ōta (usually under the pseudonym ZUN), who does all the graphics, music, and programming alone for the bullet hell games, with the exceptions of the portrait art inFairy Wars,which was done by Makoto Hirasaka. The fighting games,Immaterial and Missing Power,Scarlet Weather Rhapsody,Touhou Hisōtensoku,Hopeless Masquerade,Urban Legend in Limbo, andAntinomy of Common Flowers, were dual efforts withTwilight Frontier, in which ZUN wrote the music and story, and Twilight Frontier created the art and gameplay.
ZUN's first interest in developing video games came during his high school years. While mostshoot 'em upgames utilise a military or science fiction theme, ZUN wanted a game with amikomain character, and aShintoaesthetic.ZUN was part of his school's orchestra club, and originally wanted to create music for video games. He went to college, hoping to compose music for fighting games, since they were popular at the time due toStreet Fighter II. As he did not know anybody else who was making games that he could put his music in, he made his own games for this purpose, which led to the firstTouhou Projectgame,Highly Responsive to Prayers, being released in 1996. The first game was originally intended as a practice in programming. TheTouhou Projectonly became a shooting game series from the second game onwards, because the popularity of shooting games had revived due toRayForceand ZUN had long been a fan of such games.ZUN remarked how the general theme and direction ofTouhouonly started coming together in the sixth game,Embodiment of Scarlet Devil.
ZUN develops his games withVisual Studio,Adobe Photoshop, andCubase, according to his interview inBohemian Archive in Japanese Red.
Manyderivative worksbased on theTouhou Projecthave been created since the release ofEmbodiment of Scarlet Devil, includingdōjinshi, dōjin music (many of the songs had been made remixing the original games' music), dōjin anime, anddōjin games(even though theTouhou Projectgames themselves are dōjin games). The vast scope ofTouhou Projectderivatives prompted commentary, noting that theTouhou Projectbecame an unmissable aspect of Japaneseconsumer generated media.Nowadays, theTouhou Projectis regarded as a typical example ofdatabase consumption.These dōjin activities are mostly responsible for adding original attributes to characters that ZUN may not have intended. ZUN, for the most part, had acknowledged, appreciated, and even encouraged these derivative works by imposing very few restrictions on the use of his works.The major restrictions are on unauthorized commercial distribution (as opposed to dōjin) and thespoiling of endings; proper attribution to Team Shanghai Alice is a requirement;creators of derivative works are asked to refrain fromcrowdfundingtheir projects.ZUN stated himself that he did not want theTouhou Projectseries to be officially commercialized.
The first publication ofTouhouProjectderivative doujinshi occurred during December 2003, following the release ofPerfect Cherry Blossom; sevencirclessoldTouhou Projectderivative works at Comiket 65 in December 2003. At Comiket 74 in August 2008, a total of 885 circles hadTouhou Projectderivative works on display or for sale, out of a total of 35,000 circles participating at Comiket.At Comiket 77 (December 2009), 2,372 circles were dedicated toTouhou Project, breaking the previous record held byThe Prince of Tennisat Comiket 66 (August 2004), which had 2,130 circles.At Comiket 85 (December 2013),Touhou Projectwas still in the lead, with 2,272 participating circles sellingTouhouProjectderivatives, compared toKuroko's Basketball, the second most popular franchise at that year's Comiket, which had 1,462 circles.Throughout the mid-2010s, theTouhou Project'spopularity at Comiket began to wane. From 2015 to 2017,Kantai Collectionwas consistently the most popular series at Comiket.By 2019, theTouhouProjectwas the fourth most popular series at Comiket, with less than half the circles at Comiket than theFateseries.
The dōjin games based on theTouhou Projectinclude adaptations of other game series' mechanics withTouhou Projectcharacters, such asKōmajō Densetsu: Scarlet Symphony(a parody of theCastlevaniagames with the title being a play on the Japanese game of the series,Akumajō Dracula),Age of Ethanols(based on theAge of Empiresseries), andTouhou Puppet Dance Performance(based on thePokémongames).
AtTokyo Game Show2014, ZUN announced a collaborative project withPlayStationbringing unofficial, fan-madeTouhou Projectdōjin games to thePlayStation 4(PS4) andPlayStation Vitaplatforms. Yuyuko Saigyouji and Reimu Hakurei also made cameo character appearances inSquare Enix's gameLord of Vermilion Re:2.
Several fanmadeanimehave been made for theTouhou Project. Albeit created by amateur studios, the projects have sometimes included appearance by professional voice actors, such asRie Tanaka. Dōjin anime of note includeFantasy Kaleidoscope ~ The Memories of Phantasm(幻想万華鏡)by the circle Manpuku Jinja in 2011,A Summer Day's Dream(夢想夏郷)by the dōjin circle Maikaze,andHifuu Club Activity Record ~ The Sealed Esoteric History(秘封活动记录) by the Chinese dōjin circle Kyoto Fantasy Troupe.A derivative anime from a commercial anime studio came in the form of Anime Tenchou xTouhou Project(アニメ店長 x 東方Project)byUfotableto celebrate the 10th anniversary of Japanese goods chainAnimateas a promotional video for the store combining theTouhou Projectwith Animate's mascot, Meito Anizawa.
TheTouhou Projectwas nominated for the 11th annualMedia Arts Awardsheld by Japan'sAgency for Cultural Affairs, under the Entertainment category,where theTouhou Projecteventually lost toNintendo'sWii Sportsfor the Grand Prize award.The series was inducted into theGuinness World Recordsin October 2010 as the "most prolific fan-made shooter series".
In 2018, aBeijing Forestry Universityvariant of the flowerLagerstroemia indicawas named "Reimu" (Chinese:灵梦) for its similarities to Reimu Hakurei's outfit.
A majorinternet memebased on theTouhouProjectis "Yukkuri shite itte ne!!!"(ゆっくりしていってね!!!, often translated as "You should be taking it easy!!!"), which centers around the disembodied, deformed heads ofTouhou Projectcharacters, often referred to as "yukkuris". This meme originated from a crude attempt to draw the main characters Reimu and Marisa withShift JIS art. Yukkuris became so popular that the phrase "Yukkuri shite itte ne!!!" won bronze for 2008's "Net Slang of the Year" in Japan. Yukkuris also appear in Internet advertisements, the animeNatsu no Arashi!andPani Poni, and most notably, the front page of2channel, one of the most visitedJapanesewebsites.
Another meme popular on the internet is "Fumofumo"(ふもふも), referring to a line ofplush dollsof characters from theTouhouProject, which are designed by the Japanese illustrator Neji and manufactured by the Japanese merchandise company Gift.The plush series features emotionless face, scornful eyes and is about two heads tall. After becoming popular, the dolls always causepanic buying.
The music of theTouhou Projecthas been a particular source of interest, and many arrangement CDs are sold at Comiket and other Japanese conventions.Among the most popular derivatives are the series ofFlashmusic videos created by thedōjin musiccircleIOSYS, which are often shared on otakuinternet forumsandNico Nico Douga. One such song,Marisa Stole the Precious Thing, has been heavily referenced and parodied in derivativeanime music videosand Internet memes.Marisa Stole the Precious Thing, alongsideCirno's Perfect Math Class,Night of Nights, andBad Apple!!were included in the dōjin gameTouhou Spell Bubble.Toby Fox, the creator ofUndertale, cited theTouhou Projectas one of his musical influences.
TheHakurei Shrine Reitaisai(博麗神社例大祭,Hakurei Jinja Reitaisai, Hakurei Shrine's Regular Grand Festival)is the largest of the many dōjin conventions hosting exclusivelyTouhou Projectcontent. Although the coordinator of this convention has nothing to do with Team Shanghai Alice officially, the name "Hakurei Shrine Reitaisai" was given by ZUN himself. It first started in 2004 as a way for Team Shanghai Alice to publicly distribute the trial version for their upcoming games,Imperishable NightandImmaterial and Missing Power.In addition, the 2004 Reitaisai featured a total of 114 participating circles. Since then, manyTouhou Projectderivative works are gathered and sold there. Commencing every year in April or May, the convention has been hosted inŌta, Tokyo, in 2004;Naka-ku, Yokohama, in 2005;Sunshine City, Tokyo, in 2006 and 2007; and theTokyo Big Sightfrom 2008 onwards. In 2010 Reitaisai SP, an additional Reitaisai to be held every autumn due to increasing popularity, was started, but it was cancelled after 2011, and later brought back and rebranded as Autumn Reitaisai from 2014 onwards. The 2011 Reitaisai was originally cancelled due to safety concerns after the2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami,and the release ofTen Desireswas also postponed. It was later rescheduled and held on May 8, 2011, with approximately 4,940 participating circles. In addition to events in Japan, there is another Reitaisai held inTaiwanthat started in 2015.The 17th Reitaisai in 2020, which was originally going to run on March 22 before being postponed to May 17, was ultimately cancelled due to safety concerns over theCOVID-19 pandemic, making it the first Reitaisai to be cancelled.