Un owen was her

**U.N. Owen was her?** (U.N.オーエンは彼女なのか？ *U.N. Ooen wa kanojo na no ka?*) is a theme song composed by ZUN for the sixth *Touhou Project* game *Embodiment of Scarlet Devil* that's associated to Flandre Scarlet. His comments on the song imply that it was his favourite during the time of the game.

**Debut**: 2002 (Embodiment of Scarlet Devil)
**Image**: Flandre Scarlet

## Analysis[edit]

The theme, along with Flandre's second-to-last spell card (Secret Barrage "And Then Will There Be None?"), are references to Agatha Christie's novel *And Then There Were None*. In the origin of this incident, the spouse of the person who sent out invitations had the initial "U.N.Owen". As "U.N.Owen" is "Unknown", i.e. an "unknown person", the characters in that story were killed by someone unknown.

That Flandre Scarlet herself does not know the meaning of killing humans or other youkai, so that in a sense she has a cruel (or, in some sense, an innocent) personality which can attributed to the fact she hasn't been in much contact with either one, and that she continues to be locked underground knowing pretty much nothing about the existence of the outside, and other things like this are thought to be the reasons there is a relation between Flandre and U.N.Owen, since ZUN stated that this relates to Flandre being unknown.

## Composer/Arranger Comments[edit]

### Embodiment of Scarlet Devil[edit]

* 2002/08/11
* Extra State Boss Theme (Flandre Scarlet)
* From the Music Room

Comment: "Flandre Scarlet's theme. I liked this one the best out of the whole game. It depicts a devilish girl in an Oriental and mysterious way. Loli-tastic melodies like this are what I'm best at, so I had a lot of fun composing this. "
* Afterword Shanghai Alice Correspondence vol. 1

Comment: "This is U.N. Owen (Una Nancy Owen). Only people who understand it understand please. The original is quite old. (About 70 years ago?) The reason why the name is this, thinking in terms of why the name is written in roman letters, is because Flandre is an unknown being. The ninth spell card is a parody of that.
### Dolls in Pseudo Paradise[edit]

* 2002/12/30
* Track 11 is a rerranged version
* No comments related to the song

### Strange and Bright Nature Deity[edit]

* 2008/26/01
* Track 2 on first CD of *Strange and Bright Nature Deity*, mixed with *Sunny Rutile Flection*

Comment: "I thought of making it an arrange of "Sunny's Rutile Flection" with the style of *Embodiment of Scarlet Devil*, but when I finished, it ended up being a completely different piece. While the fierce battles go on, you can see the figure of a fairy collecting bugs or something by the side of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. If that piece from the days of yore ended up in a fairy's hands..."
## Fandom[edit]

*U.N. Owen was her?* is one of the most popular themes in the *Touhou Project* to have a wide range of remixes and vocals added. Its genre for arrangements can range from cute and relaxing to insane and bloodthirsty due to Flandre Scarlet's personality amongst the fanbase. It is particularly famous, and is often used in MAD videos, and for a time introduced many as "newcomers hoihoi" on Nico Nico to Touhou. The theme is commonly remixed with other themes such as Remilia Scarlet's *Septette for a Dead Princess* or Koishi Komeiji's *Hartmann's Youkai Girl*.

McRoll/Ran Ran Ru
The arrangement "Final Savage Sister, Flandre S." (最終鬼畜妹フランドール･S) in the album *Touhou Strike* by COOL&CREATE seems to have been mistaken by many to have been the original music. This may be due to a remix of this song along with the original with Ronald McDonald and the so-called McRoll and has been the first contact with Touhou for thousands of western Internet users. People referring to "U.N.Owen was her?" as the McRoll/Ran Ran Ru song is a sore point among many long time Touhou fans.

Theme song controversy
The theme was at one time wrongly criticised for plagiarism due to a confusion arising from a video uploaded to Youtube. This video, created with a software called Synthesia and showing a MIDI arrange created by COOL&CREATE being played on an interactive piano, was initially uploaded to Niconico; later, an user reuploaded the video to Youtube, but the video's Japanese title was mistranslated as "Death Waltz - John Stump", causing a confusion that led some people to believe that ZUN had plagiarized that song. John Stump did create a song in 1980 called *Death Waltz*, but it is a joke song impossible to play by a human and it sounds like jumbled noise when played on a synthesizer.

### Notable Arrangements[edit]

* *最終鬼畜妹フランドール・Ｓ* by COOL&CREATE on 東方ストライク (Track 11)
* *最終鬼畜全部声* by COOL&CREATE on 東方ホムーラン (Track 10)
* *最終鬼畜一部声* by COOL&CREATE on Flowering ERINNNNNN!! (Track 6)
* *U.N.オーエンは彼女なのか？* by DDBY on 8BiTouhou2 (Track 10)
* *軽い足取りで駆け上がろう* by DDBY on 紅マジック (Track 5)
* *Cloistered girl of red moon* by IOSYS on Phantasmagoria mystical expectation (Track 5)
* *U.N.オーエンが彼女だったとしたら？* by IOSYS on 東方月燈籠 (Track 10)
* *U.N.オーエンは彼女ではなかった！* by IOSYS on 東方河想狗蒼池 (Track 7)
* *U.N.オーエンはメタルっぽい何か？* by オーライフジャパン on 異臭幻想狂 (Track 8)
* *U.N.オーエンはツンデレなのか！* by 石鹸屋 on 東方不可拘束 ～the maximum moving about!～ (Track 5)
* *P.S. Iz C Owen ?* by SOUND HOLIC on SOUND HOLIC MEETS TOHO ～東方的編曲音源集～ (Track 3)
* *呪われし紅き宿命* by SOUND HOLIC on SOUND HOLIC MEETS TOHO ～東方的幻奏小曲集～ (Track 3)
* *Sister Flandre ～眷族～* by SOUND HOLIC on SOUND HOLIC MEETS TOHO ～東方的幽幻奏曲集～ (Track 8)
* *Sympathy For The Scarlet Devil* by SOUND HOLIC on SOUND HOLIC MEETS TOHO ～東方的夢天幻奏典～ (Track 2)
* *UNknown 404.* by SOUND HOLIC on SOUND HOLIC MEETS TOHO ～東方的紅蓮烈火弾～ (Track 8)
* *Grip and Break Down !!* by SOUND HOLIC on 紅 -KURENAI- (Track 2)
* *The fifth man, last man (is you)* by SWING HOLIC on VOL.04 / SWING HOLIC (Track 7)
* *unknown girl* by TaNaBaTa on Setsuna Light (Track 3)
* *U.N.オーエンは彼女なのか？* by ゆう on Cradle -東方幻樂祀典- (Disc 2, Track 10)
* *Ripples* by m3tamix Records on TOHO BEATRONIC -red purple- (Track 9)
* *Twilight Chronicle ～I Am Sister （Remix Edition)* by Golden City Factory on Twiligt Chronicle ～I Am Sister (Track 2)
* *族＆きのこスープす - ゆ・め・ん・な・か* by 骨神 on blooming (Disc 1, Track ??)
* *her favorite thngs* by SaXi on Luminous (Track ??)
* *4.9.5* by Project-Delta on 495 (Track ??)
* *Hell for Frandle* by BubbleRecords on Re:+ (Track 2)
* *Bloodstained Dance Party* by BubbleRecords on Re:- (Track 4)
* *Hell for Frandle -hard gabber remix!!!-* by BubbleRecords on ribonn (Track 9)
* *U.N.オーエンはXXX* by モヒカンサンドバッグ on Full Materials ver2.0 (Track ??)
* *U.N.オーエンは彼女なのか？* by Diverse System on Anima II 東方 (Track 2)
* *U.N.オーエンは彼女なのか？* by SJV-SC on 徳 -arete- (Track ??)
* *U.N.オーエンは彼女なのか？＋恋色マスタースパーク -Trance Mix-* by ion on Spiritual Spellers (Track 4)
* *The Blood of Insanity* by Kissing the Mirror × 魂音泉 on Dreaming River (Track ??)
* *破壊衝動* by DJ TENKO- on *N/A*
* *U.N.オーエンは彼女ではないようです。* by HaL on *N/A*
* *～U.N.オーエンは彼女なのか？・東方曲アレンジ-MEGA SPEED TECHNO REMIX* by DAIGO+ on *N/A*
* *U.N.オーエンの為のセプテット* by こなぐすり on 東方漢方薬 (Track ??)
* *STAGE3 - C.R.V* by WAVE on ENTERPRISE (Track ??)
* *Her Dread* by BLANKFIELD on THE EDGE OF THE KNIFE (Track 6)
* *Drake* by ALiCE's EMOTiON vs Cis-Trance on FANATIC HARDCORE RED LABEL (Track 9)
* *U.N.オーエンは彼女なのか？* by Analyze on *N/A*
* *Sister is Massacre Ogre ?* by Black Label

* Records on 東方幻舞闘 (Track ??)
* *Sweets Time* by SYNC.ARTS on ゆきうさぎ (Track 5)
* *緋色月下、狂咲ノ絶* by EastNewSound on Lyrical Crimson (Track 11)
* *緋色月下、狂咲ノ絶　-1st Anniversary Remix-* by EastNewSound on Sacred Factor (Track 10)
* *緋色月下、狂咲ノ絶* by EastNewSound on EastNewSoundBest vol.1 (Track 11)
* *She Was U.N Owen* by FTFX on Hey Teacher! (Track 2)
* *orbital ring* by M-Style on 紅宴 (Track 2)
* *495* by C.H.S on Ultra Cute!? (Track 13)
* *taboo tears you up* by IOSYS on 東方萃翠酒酔 (Track 3)
* *Mixed Power* by Far in the distance -4 Ever- on Are You NUTS!?! (Track 6)\
* *ＵＮオーエンは彼女なのか？（アレンジ)* by You-ing Factory on N/A
* *UNKNOWN DIE UNKNOWN* by 川瀬 on THUNDER CONCERTO (Track 8)
* *Absolute Demolition* by SYNC.ART'S on Rainbow Face (Track 3)

#### Arrangements (download)[edit]

* Analyze
* 感懐一擲、心ニ響ケ！
* Dust\_Box\_49
* Mallow Street
* nekomimi style
* Re\_speC
* The challenge to a limit
* Vary - ベアリー -
* おおゆきちたい
* くろねこのとおりみち
* 擦弦の音に怪鳥の相槌
* 鳩小屋SPRING
* 物置小屋
* Pulse Circus
* TAMusic (video)
* izmizm
* Sound'n'Sound（サウンド アンド サウンド）

## References[edit]

1. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T2ODUQ9vaM
2. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q16KpquGsIc