#retrospective 53 minutes

[touhoutunes]

Title: ?63HiiraossHuikgoeH53?

Arrangement: キセノン

Album: DiGiTiZED FAiRiES

Circle: Black Onyx

Original: Hiroshige No.36 ~ Neo Super-Express

[touhou-music-twice-a-week]

Title: Subterranean Homesick Blue

Vocals: LyuU

Lyrics, Arrangement: ニシム監督

Album: 秘封缶

Circle: Ridil

Original Theme: Blue Sea of 53 Minutes

[every1sno1fangirl]

Why did ZUN not make Retrospective 53 Minutes last 53 minutes? Is he stupid?

[monikatouhou]

[godginrai]

GET IN THE RING & TUMENECO - ポラリス (Polaris)

Another World 2

2013

Original: Hiroshige No.36 ～ Neo Super-Express

[sukimas]

i don’t think it’s plausible for merry to ever be separated from renko for the rest of her life simply because saigyouji yuyuko exists. that woman does NOT let things go when they’re important to her

[ayakashibackstreet]

(Retrospective 53 minutes, Cage in Lunatic Runagate chapter 3, prologue to Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom, afterword to Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost)

ZUN sure has been focused on that 'perfect yet fake and sterile' vs 'imperfect and therefore real and organic' dichotomy for quite some time now, huh

[moonsidesong]

i actually quite like the little whirring sound my cd drive makes heheh

[xbuster]

If you want to catch up on Hifuu Club before the new release,

Here’s a link to my upload of all the music CDs for easy downloading

Here’s a link to the wiki pages for each music CD with every story translation

For the best experience, listen to each CD in order as they appear in the Google Drive. Each track has a story passage it’s associated with, so when you’re listening to a certain CD, click on the wiki link and navigate to the associated page. Look for the track you’re currently listening to and read the passage that’s next to it on the wiki. When you get to the next track, read its passage and repeat. This makes it take maybe 45 minutes to get through a single CD, but it’s worth it when you get to albums like Trojan Green Asteroid that really take advantage of using the tracks to sell you on what you should be feeling when reading the story.

NEW HIFUU CLUB MUSIC CD?????

[pinkcultgirl]

i made a Retrospective 53-minutes inspired collage to put in my scrabbook! i'm super happy with how it turned out and i definitely want to do more hiffu club themed papercrafts in the future, i think the themes of magical astronomy will work well with a lot of alchemical/esoteric ephemera i've collected recently :-)

would yall be interested in seeing my other papercrafts and collages lemme know sjkdkfjskj i would love to show them off hehehehe :333

[touhoutunes]

Title: YOU&Iのdistance

Arrangement: シンゴ

Vocals: パイン & ケニー

Album: FAR EAST JOURNEYS

Circle: マッカチン企画

Original: Hiroshige No.36 ~ Neo Super-Express

[touhou-music-twice-a-week]

Title: 「Blue Rondo A･･･」

Arrangement: ニシム監督

Album: Old Adams! 秘封×カクテル合同

Circle: ATMOSPHERIC

Original Theme: Blue Sea of 53 Minutes

[randomvarious]

1990s Indie Rock Playlist

Fucking finally! A 90s indie rock playlist for Spotify! I've had a YouTube version of this one for a few years now—and that one is both significantly better and longer—but now you all have *something* that's a whole lot more easily accessible too 👍.

Now, it's not really easy to describe what exactly makes an indie rock song an indie rock song in the first place, but you tend to know it when you hear it; and with this first iteration of a Spotify version of this playlist, we start with a total of 11 songs that run from shoegazey, noisy fuzz to smoother and more melodic power pop-leaning college rock stuff. And we've got a couple very brief explorations of specific scenes here too, with a few tunes from mid-90s Australia and then a handful from late 90s Philadelphia.

Plus, most of these are pretty dang obscure as well, with most selections having play counts somewhere in the low single-thousands; but we kick off with a total, unmissable classic: "Ginger" by Washington, D.C.'s Lilys, a song and band that I first discovered in the most unlikeliest of ways as a completely random bonus track on a retrospective 80s synthpop and new wave comp that celebrated beloved Bay Area radio DJ Steve Masters 😂. This killer 1993 tune is by far this playlist's most popular one, currently sitting at over 377K plays.

This playlist is ordered as chronologically as possible.

Lilys - "Ginger" Even - "Stupid Dream" Flanders - "Shameless" Challenger 7 - "Wait a Lifetime" Transient Waves - "Wavelength" Sunbirds - "Rocket" Line - "Hollow" Photon Band - "Here Comes Some Changes" Intro to India - "The World Is Waiting" Lenola - "Sids" The Asteroid No. 4 - "Tricks of the Trade"

But as I mentioned up top, there's a whole lot more great stuff on the YouTube version of this playlist, which contains more than double the amount of songs that are on the Spotify one, and thus I think really cements its own status as being a genuinely indie playlist, because you can't find most of it on any of the streaming platforms!

With this superior version, we've got tunes from the early 90s, including a much less known version of Brian Jonestown Massacre's "Evergreen," and a great, slow, and heavy one called "Salvation" by Los Angeles' Sacred Miracle Cave. Then we head up to Canada for a bunch of tunes from the Sonic Unyon label, including a few tracks by Treble Charger (aka NC17), whose "Red" has been rated by many as one of the single-greatest Canadian alt rock tunes of the entire decade. And there's a music video in this Canadian section too, for a spacey gem by SIANspheric called "I Like the Ride." 🚀🤘

Then after that, we head down to the mid-90s Philly scene, with the deeply underheard "Calling All Cars" by Slumber, which only has 77 plays, and The Asteroid No. 4's "Car Thief Millenia," which only has 95 plays. And then to close out, we have a couple tunes from Cali label Devil in the Woods, with the catchy, keyboard-assisted "Dirt Bike Rider" by Snowmen, and a rare, live performance of "Snowball" by Modesto's Fiver.

The Charlottes - "Could There Ever Be" Sacred Miracle Cave - "Salvation" Spot 1019 - "HHH" The Brian Jonestown Massacre - "Evergreen Treble Charger - "Red" NC17 - "Cubicle" Sponge - "Colourful Hat" Eric's Trip - "Evie" By Divine Right - "Out of It" SIANspheric - "I Like the Ride" Treble Charger - "Even Grable" The Asteroid No. 4 - "Car Thief Millenia" Slumber - "Calling All Cars" Snowmen - "Dirt Bike Rider" Fiver - "Snowball"

And this playlist is also on YouTube Music.

Now, you've probably never heard of almost any of these bands before, but I promise you that there is a metric ton of gold in this collection of songs. Go and hop in your '94 Taurus and cruise the highway with this thing; you will not regret it.

Spotify playlist is 11 songs and runs for 53 minutes, but the YouTube one is 26 songs and runs for 118 minutes. So if you want more of this terrific indie shit, you know which of these options to choose.

Next week we'll be taking an eclectic trip out to late 90s San Francisco.

Enjoy!

More to come, eventually. Stay tuned!

Like what you hear? Follow me on Spotify and YouTube for more cool playlists and uploads!

[monikatouhou]

Hifuu CD doodles, all together in one convienient post

Ghostly Field Club

Changeability of Strange Dream

Retrospective 53 Minutes

Magical Astronomy

Trojan Green Asteroid

Neo-Traditionalism of Japan

Dr. Latency's Freak Report

Dateless Bar "Old Adam"

[laplaces-lovecraftian-dick]

re: arcs in touhou

this is a personal way of packaging the events of touhou for convenience. literature not explicitly mentioned, I'd place in the corresponding release chronology.

1. PC-98

We all now by now that pc-98 canon is deemed mostly canon unless contradicted. It is also quite outdated and left for much of interpretation. Either way.

- Reiiden, (The) Highly Responsive to Prayers. What do we know? Reimu can seriously kick some ass. Also, joyful spherical creature.

- Fuumaroku, (the) Story of Eastern Wonderland. What do we have? Mima was apparently unsealed from Hell, and it's established that the Hakurei is famous for better or worse. Moreover the "true powers" of the orbs are quite curious.

- Yumejikuu, (The) Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream. What do we have? Professor Yumemi Okazaki from a world that resembles the foundation of the Hifuuture. Also some insight into the whimsy of this world.

- Gensoukyou, Lotus Land Story. There isn't that much other than the name (!!!), Yuuka, and the existence of a dream world.

- Kaikidan, Mystic Square. There is once again not that much lore other than Makai having more of a structure and Alice appearing for the first time. Perhaps the mention that Yuuka doesn't use magic is of vague interest (and so would be Mima's words about being a god if she hadn't disappeared).

2. Spellcard Arc

Immediately following the Vampire Incident (which in and of itself is quite interesting for a variety of reasons) we get to watch as Gensokyo becomes used to this new system. This is an arc for Exposition.

- Koumakyou, (the) Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. We get it, Remilia wants to show off. We are introduced to Patchouli and Flandre, who are for now important to the lore.

- Youyoumu, Perfect Cherry Blossom. Of importance, we expand upon the fact that Gensokyo has History and that it has Connections to other worlds, at least one of which seems to be manageable by Yukari Yakumo (whom we also meet here and we get some interesting interactions with Reimu). We also see Alice again, and this implies a possible connection to Makai somewhere.

- Suimusou, Immaterial and Missing Power. We meet Suika, who has a great deal of importance as an oni, as Yukari's friend, and as one of the four that once controlled the mountain.

- Eiyashou, Imperishable Night. Oh, where to even start. We get more insight on Yukari through Stage 3, we learn of the Human Village (protected by a hakutaku, mind you), we learn about the Lunarians, and we learn about Mokou. This is Chekhov's gun, I dare say.

- Kaeizuka, Phantasmagoria of Flower View. Clearly there's not really a Major Incident per se, but we do get insight on Reimu's duties, the nature of Gensokyo, how Yuuka has become relatively quiet, and we get insight from Yukari through Seasonal Dream Vision.

- Bunkachou, Shoot the Bullet. Here, I'd also place the literature of this era as more exposition with fun bits of lore.

- Hourai Doll ~ Dolls in Pseudo Paradise, Night Trip to Rendaino ~ Ghostly Field Club, Changing Dreams in the Age of Science ~ Changeability of Strange Dream, East-West Tokaido ~ Retrospective 53 Minutes, and Celestial Wizardry ~ Magical Astronomy. Boy oh boy do we have a fun ride learning about the Hifuuture and our dear protagonists, Maeriberii "Maribel" "Merry" Hearn and Renko Usami. This is of great importance for Yukari and Gensokyo lore later on, plus it's a good segue into the more philosophical arc next.

(yes I know DiPP isn't strictly Hifuu but!)

3. Religious Arc

- Bougetsushou. This expands on Lunarian lore, which is especially important when we try to understand Yukari Yakumo and Gensokyo, and it complements well the established setting in the first half of Hifuu. We also get insight on Patchouli's magic-science unification, more on religious setting (as seen in Yorihime and maybe Yuyuko loopholeing the concept of purity), and more on History such as Mokou's past and Eirin's growth.

- Fuujinroku, Mountain of Faith. Well, other than welcoming a more divine side into Touhou, we establish properly the dynamics of the Youkai Mountain, especially the tengu's presence. Moreover, we meet Kanako and Suwako, who are living proof of gensokyo's concept of adaptation and self-definition, as well as of gensokyo's sustainable balance. Sanae is also a good way to expand on the relationship with the Outside World.

- Hisouten, Scarlet Weather Rhapsody. We are introduced to Tenshi and the philosophy of the Celestials, and also we see Yukari having a bit of an obvious interest in keeping the shrine as is.

- Chireiden, Subterranean Animism. We learn about Former Hell, continue to see Yukari and Suika being suspiciously helpful, meet Yuugi, and continue the trainwreck caused by Kanako's arrival.

- Seirensen, Undefined Fantastic Object. Makai returns! Byakuren is here! With her arrival, the Trainwreck continues, there is a vague connection to the Blood Pools via Murasa, and we get to see the side of mythology about humans and youkai (as seen with Byakuren's approach to it, and Ichirin existing).

- Hisoutensoku, Unthinkable Natural Law; Bunkachou, Double Spoiler; Sangetsusei, Great Fairy Wars. Naturally, we must see Gensokyo adapting to it's new state of affairs as things change and forces tug at it.

- Shinreibyou, Ten Desires. Much more lore regarding History and self-definition as seen in Miko; also, we meet Mamizou, who can somewhat play with the Hakurei Barrier.

- Shinkirou, Hopeless Masquerade. The Trainwreck comes to a close as Kokoro puts an end to the religious wars. This event (by which I mean a tsukumogami and a satori accidentally solving everything with some nudges along the way) show the way Gensokyo works: nothing truly Bad can happen to it.

- Suzunaan, Forbidden Scrollery. This further shows that there are forces at play which ensure the balance of Gensokyo. More on that in other official literature.

4. Gensokyo Arc

We are back to seeing the nature of this fantasy land through a much larger scope. Gensokyo has been established as a setting and as a concept, so now we get to see it in full action.

- Ruins of Torifune ~ Trojan Green Asteroid, Izanagi Object ~ Neo-traditionalism of Japan, Swallow stone Naturalis Historia ~ Dr. Latency's Freak Report, Old Testament Tavern ~ Dateless Bar "Old Adam". What a better way to start this era than through the moment in Hifuu where the Renko-Merry dynamic takes a turn, and Merry's true colors start to show more clearly?

- Kishinjou, Double Dealing Character. An independent incident, really; we are given a refreshment as to what a Gensokyo Incident feels like. No intervention from any other worlds, simply put. It's quickly resolved, as expected, and even quicker does the world adapt. (Insert ISC here).

- Shinpiroku, Urban Legend in Limbo. Much to discuss! From a new Outsider in the form of Sumireko Usami, to the scale that an incident can reach when there are other worlds at play! Especially, the Moon and an Outside World that ever so slightly drifts from what Sanae knew and into what Merry will know. Also, we get a proper game appearance for Kasen, which means...

- Ibarakasen, Wild and Horned Hermit. Sure, the story began much earlier, but it's worth nothing a few things here and now, such as the insight we get on being a hermit, a sage, and an oni all from the same person: Kasen, another prime example of self-definition. Also, a fun little peek at Hell and Heaven.

- Kanjuden, Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom. Well, among many other things, this brings us Hecatia, who offers good insight on the dynamic of connected worlds, which we have been seeing quite a lot of; as well as a comparison between the rigid Lunarian culture, the unique lawlessness of Hell, and the adaptable Gensokyo.

- Hyouibana, Antimony of Common Flowers. Well, with this incident we get to see more of Kasen and Yukari's current dynamic, their relation to Reimu, and two very important points shown through the Yorigamis: anyone can cause an incident (which, we kinda already knew, but bear with me), and the Dream World takes importance. Tenshi can freely desire to reshape the world into something better (albeit through odd means), is that not reminiscent of Reimu's desire?

- Tenkuushou, Hidden Star in Four Seasons. What was that about anyone crafting an incident? Oh yeah, another sage appears, and makes incision on the nature of Gensokyo. There is also, albeit not as directly, insight into self-definition in Okina, who embodies so many concepts.

- Hifuu Nightmare Diary, Violet Detector. More Sumireko shenanigans that showcase the adaptability of Gensokyo and the meddling of the sages when things are tricky. Moreover, the importance of the Dream World for Gensokyo is highlighted: both in universe, as the Yukaribel story grows, and out of universe, for the very conception of Gensoukyou involved a dream world.

- Kikeijuu, Wily Beast and Weakest Creature. Woop woop, there's no time to keep musing about sages and dreams, Hell is here! Is this a consequence of Hecatia and Okina's quarrel? No, it was actually the Beasts. However, we do get to see a curious phenomenon involving Keiki and the human spirits.

- Gouyoku Ibun, Submerged Hell of Sunken Sorrow. Once again, the sages meddle when things are tricky. There's also something to be said about their wisdom - are they not very clever with Flandre's power? They must've quickly learnt in order to devise such a plan - Kasen learnt to solve the Urban Legend Incident, Yukari learnt to solve the Perfect Possession Incident, surely Okina can do the same. And yet... perhaps, and just perhaps, the knowledge was always there. The Vampire Incident was long ago, and Gensokyo is fundamentally an accepting place. Had they wanted to, they could've kicked the Scarlets out, and yet. This is how they built Gensokyo. This is how they work with it. But let's move on - more Beast lore, and we utilize obscure mythology to our advantage.

This, we have already seen. Vampire lore is not exactly commonplace, so they didn't know how to deal with them. Oni lore was forgotten, therefore Suika and Kasen were tricky to deal with. The sages are masters of self-definition through their mythology. The entirety of shinpiroku and hyouibana was based on working with the mythology of the incident. More on this later.

- Kouryuudou, Unconnected Marketeers. Another instance of "anyone can create an incident if they try hard enough," of "redefining oneself" with Chimata and not too unlike what Kanako herself showed, and of Reimu finding more about her own power.

- Bulletphilia-tachi no Yami-Ichiba, 100th Black Market. Whimsical instance of Gensokyo adapts. Somehow, it always does, for better or worse.

- Juuouen, Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost. Whuh-oh! This was the for worse! Now, the beast incident brewing in the background crashes into the ever fluctuating Gensokyo. Thankfully, even the other worlds have their own measures to remain stable, just like Gensokyo does. This means both through the dutiful shrine maiden and through this strange innate balance (Aunn saves the day! Okina will surely claim it was all according to plan). Everything passes.

5. The Future.

Who knows? Predicting touhou is famously not the best of ideas. However, I'm confident there will be constants: this is a place to determine oneself, and this is a place that will persevere.

On a more specific note, I imagine that Chireikiden, Cheating Detective Satori will bring an interesting plot, whether it be a conclusion to the arc or the beginning of a new one. We recently tackled Hell, so it may be the former option.

It seems to be shaping up a lore reveal regarding the Hakurei and Gensokyo's creation. Perhaps, there will be more on its connection to other worlds, specifically the dream world. The importance of change. The nature of the shrine. The balance established by the sages, of those who embrace otherness as seen in Hifuu, in DiPP, in Forbidden Scrollery.

[ashenmind]

oh, retrospective 53 minutes is 53 minutes long

that… makes sense