Tag: Touhou

Fandom

Certainly Not A Con Report Of Anime North 2010

I think I used this picture before. I’ll probably use it again. [vania600]

Late con posts aren’t all that bad, are they?

Anime North 2010 took place over the last weekend of May, and it happened to coincide with a few important real life events for me, like the end of my last year of high school. Suffice it to say that I had a great time and that it’s still one of my highlights of the year. Since the idea of writing a “real” con report puts me to sleep, this will pretty much just be a collection of my impressions of the various events I attended and on the con as a whole. The post is far longer than anyone should want to read, so the important names and events are bolded to make for easy skimming. There’s also a bit of meta at the end if you’re in the mood for it.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Analysis

A Journey Through Gensokyo, Part Two: Style and Beauty of Eastern Wonderland

[sayori]

If you’ve played any Touhou games other than the 2D fighters, you probably know that ZUN isn’t the world’s best artist. However, as most Touhou fanartists have realized, beneath the technically flawed character portraits lies a wealth of creative, memorable, if not gimmicky character designs. I’m sure we can all think of one character off the top of our heads whose design stands out from the rest, a character who would instantly catch our eye while scrolling through the picture collection. Every game has one of them; frankly, every game has lots of them.

One aspect of ZUN’s character designs that I find interesting is the fact that they occasionally tie into the story and the character’s personality. Sometimes this takes the form of a visual motif; a distinguishing trait, be it an article of clothing or a story-related magical power, that’s always capitalized upon in fanart, and sometimes even in-game. Amazingly, the danmaku that the player struggles to dodge can be more than just a mess of shape and colour! Be it through clothing or hair colour or magical vampire wings and frog-eyed hats, here are a few characters whose designs are slightly more than meets the eye.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Analysis

A Journey Through Gensokyo, Part One: Listen to my Song!

[kibushi]

Touhou fandom is a vast, vast entity. A while ago I jotted down some tips for beginners who fear the difficulty of the game series, but as important as bullet dodging is, the franchise extends far beyond the gameplay. I’ve learned a lot about Touhou over the last few months, dedicating countless hours to filling up my doujin music library and saving new fanart. I spent some time on the ever-helpful wiki, too, trying to piece together some of the more obscure tidbits of storyline information.

As my travels through Gensokyo continued, I stumbled upon something quite interesting: Touhou sheet music. With a bit of help (thanks, Matthew), I was able to track down the sheet music of some of my favourite songs in the series. I’m no expert on music theory, but with a visual transcription of the songs to help me, I think I can dig up some interesting facts. Maybe you can to.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Editorial

Anime and the Changing of the Seasons

[zuta]

When you saw this post in your feed reader or Anime Nano or what have you, you probably assumed it was just another meta post on the upcoming season of anime. Perhaps I would ramble on about why it’s bad to drop shows after one episode; maybe I would say that it’s important to watch a multitude of shows, including ones that normally wouldn’t appeal to you.

Actually, the “seasons” mentioned in the post title refers to something completely different. I’m talking about nature.

Wait, don’t close the tab yet – I’m not here to preach. I enjoy my skyscrapers and carefully planned city parks as much as the next person, and probably more. However, I’ve always felt a strange connection with the use of nature in anime as a visual, stylistic tool. Nature can grant the most sublime motifs and emotionally evocative art if it’s used appropriately, and yet it’s something that can so easily go unnoticed.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Editorial

5 tips to help you stop being a secondary Touhou fan and start dodging bullets

It’s hard to pinpoint what it is about Touhou that draws people to it. Somewhere within the unique character designs, quirky personalities, stylish music and skillful game design lies the secret that made ZUN the otaku culture star that he is. However, the incredible popularity of his franchise has resulted in an interesting phenomenon among his fans: primary and secondary fandom.

I’m not sure how official this terminology is, but in general, Touhou fans can be divided into two categories: the people who enjoy it for the fan works and the memes, and the people who enjoy it for the source material. It’s essential to delve into both categories if you want to experience everything the franchise has to offer, but considering how mainstream it’s become, it’s safe to say that many of today’s Touhou fans shy away from the original games out of fear. I can’t blame them, either: bullet dodging is scary stuff. It’s tough for gamers, and it’s even tougher for non-gamers.

Regardless, you’ll be the one missing out if you don’t bite the bullet and try to grasp the intricacies of ZUN’s game design. After all, little girls shooting fairies can only take you so far – the beautiful chaos of the game’s extreme side are as important as any amount of techno remixes and yuri doujins. If you think you’re up for the task, read on for a few tips on how to experience Touhou fandom through its intimidating yet exhilarating source.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Merchandise

The Touhou Collection

So, I was looking through some of my old unsorted merchandise recently when I suddenly realized something: I’ve got the entire current-gen Touhou series sitting in my room, still sealed as PaletWeb delivered them. I was thinking of putting them back where I found them, but much like in one of my previous merchandise posts, a familiar thought struck me – I’m a blogger, and what do bloggers do when they have a mass of things that they can’t really use but want to show the world anyway?

Yeah, you guessed it. They take pictures and post them instead of, y’know, actually writing something.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.