#zun cd

[touhou-memories]

ZUN music CDs - PART 2

Covers of Rainbow-Colored Septentrion and Taboo Japan Disentanglement.

Sources: 

en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/File:ZCDS-0017.jpg en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/File:TJD.png

Note: Rainbow-Colored Septentrion was originally distributed without a cover.

PART 1: /post/172390771519/.

[pixelkip]

I find it kind of hilarious that Doremy Sweet never caused a problem in her life she's just dealing with someone else's mess every time she appears in a game. In LoLK she's either going "oh shit oh fuck you're a physical person you shouldn't be here or you might go crazy" or "sorry they're kinda making me do this. Actually I don't care go to the moon or something". Not to mention having to make a fake capital for them. And in aocf she's just trying to round up the mess that Rich Bitch Supreme caused her!! She just politely explains exactly what's going on to anyone confused and is only a little snide about everyone contributing to making her job hell. Except for yukari, bc she tears her a new one the second yukari decides to get all high and mighty thinking she's allowed to interfere with her work. It is not very often someone gets to put YUKARI FUCKING YAKUMO in her place. And she gives Reisen a chance to vent her frustrations in the process bc she's cool like that. Oh and ig in 16.5 she has to babysit a feral teenager. Again. Idk I think we focus too much on "lol look how fucked up it is that x touhou girl did y" we don't focus enough on the silly little guys who are just trying to help. I can excuse the sweet sleep pillow shenanigans and general smugness bc she has gone through enough and totally deserves to be Like That. At this point if she DID instigate an incident I'd say let her. This post was not supposed to be this long what the fuck happened. I love doremy so much.

[maeriquitecontrary]

Little devil.

[petchypeach]

I have so many thoughts and possible headcanons after the new hifuu cd. Lots of amazing drawing ideas too!! I’ve been feeling a little burnt out recently, but I think this really reignited some of my passion ❤️

Looking forward to tmw when I have the day off work and I can get started on them.

[sukimas]

the girls in magical astronomy talking about going on the moon tour next fall completely unawares that the upcoming year will contain a free trip to space:

[anonumber123]

brooooooo i really wish i could listen to the newest hifuu club album cause i was looking at people's reactions on twitter, and EVERYONE was really hyping it up and going off about how the songs were really really good, and EVEN SAYING THAT THIS IS LITERALLY HIS BEST ALBUM??? LIKE??

[moonsidesong]

god tiny shangri-la is so good. thankyou zun for music

[chireikiden]

I really doubt google's giving me a good translation for the story summary for the Touhou 20 announcement and it's confusing me... could you do us all a favour? 〜 ストーリー 〜幻想郷に何かが起きていることは感じていた。しかし、その事に気付く者は僅かだ。 明らかに異常な反応を見せていたのは、聖域、すなわち山の麓に存在するアンタッチャブルな地と異変の力だった。 今まで解決してきた異変の力を纏って、彼女は聖域に挑む。(Also what are your thoughts on the announcement so far any theories and predictions?)

東方錦上京 〜 Fossilized Wonders

錦上京 is pretty hard to give a snappy translation without context. At face value, 錦上 means "fine dress" and "above" and would be short for the idiom "to put flowers on top of a fine dress", meaning "to make something beautiful even more beautiful". Meanwhile 京 is "capital city". So it could be paraphrased as like "Beautified" or "Resplendent Capital".

However, 上京 also means "going to the capital", so it could be "going to capital in fine dress" or along those lines. Or both of these options. I doubt there'll be anything to settle which one it's "supposed" to be, but mentally I'm going to treat the former as the main meaning with the latter as a side note.

Note that I'm not personally familiar with the 錦上 idiom or anything else it might be alluding to. Basically going by dictionaries here.

One could feel that something was happening in Gensokyo. However, only a few people would realize. The strange feeling was clearly coming from the Sanctuary, i.e. the untouchable region in the foothills of the mountain, and the power of an incident. Taking with her the power of incidents she'd resolved in the past, she set out towards the Sanctuary.

Spiritual sequel/spinoff for CDS, clearly.

The translation "taking with her" for 纏って feels a bit clunky. The verb used is somewhat ambiguous about how active/voluntary it is, and there'd be a more apt translation if we could be more sure about the details. But it's a safe bet it's at least referring to the rocks they're carrying.

This menu is titled "Change what Incident Stone you have equipped". That Main Story Stone should really be "Main Incident Stone". (And that text at the bottom is just the difficulty selection, with "Gemstone Level" as this time's playful name for Normal difficulty.)

The Main Incident Stone selected here is named Blue Season, and "is loaded with the madness that lurks at the back of all seasons. The power hidden within will certainly open up a hole in the Sanctuary." So it clearly represents the Four Seasons Incident somehow. The rocks also come with Incident Attacks that seem more or less in line with the season, animal spirit or ability card attacks from recent games, as a secondary bomb of sorts. The other screenshots show that you can have four equipped, including duplicates and bigger and smaller images of the same rock.

Other than that, I don't have very specific speculation of my own at the moment. Obviously everything related to Youkai Mountain is packed with options. Izanagi Objects seem like a gimme.

The Japanese title, the English title and the skyline on the logo all bring to mind the Animal Realm, but while they could be involved, I don't really think it's going to be another animal spirit-centric game.

And it could finally be the "large hollow cavity where a futuristic utopia just like the outside world is being built". Which is actually a bit funny, because the mere suggestion makes me think "But if is that, ZUN's being weirdly obvious about it here", as if this wasn't a single line in PMiSS we're talking about. Real xkcd 2501 hours.

I tend to not really play the games, but follow them very closely. Looking forward to getting three more characters again less than a month from now. Always one of the best times to be in this fandom.

[touhou-memories]

New ZUN music CD

Taboo Japan Disentanglement is coming out tomorrow at Reitaisai: https://touhou-project.news/news/11618/.

I'd wait a while before having these on tumblr, at least to see if they get copyright striked on youtube. For the same reason Rainbow-Colored Septentrion isn't posted yet.

[amemenojaku]

I went to the yomiuriland touhou collab yesterday and the imperishable night exhibit today 🙈

the collab was alright, there isn't much besides food and some cute pictures here and there but I didn't have big expectations to begin with so that's okay. they played some of zun's music (including the new hifuu cd) on the speakers, felt a bit surreal queuing for normal theme park rides with necrofantasia in the background 😂 I really liked how they displayed fanarts from an earlier illustration contest for kids too, it was super cute.

the imperishable night exhibit was quite good! really pretty art from both official artists (I've always been a big fan of aki eda and I was just SO so happy to see their reimu again...) and some big name fanartists, some cosplay, cute interview with kiisan/zun's wife (and other people but I didn't care that much lol) and then zun himself on in, lolk, the moon in touhou lore and print works related to it, and a little corner with some of zun's original sketches (mostly in characters but there was other stuff like td and print works and seihou. would've liked to see lolk sketches too since they kinda sorta included it in the exhibit though). I really wish that last corner had been bigger actually... apparently the overall exhibit was smaller and had less content than previous years' but I didn't go to those so I can't compare. it was fun though. very happy with getting more reimu swag for my reimu shrine 😎

[tennco]

im glad zun rearranged necrofantasia for the CDs because it deserved better than PCB's compression hell

[originspeed]

ZUN just announced a new Hifuu Club CD and I can't help but notice that on the cover Maribel's hat now has a red ribbon... just like a certain someone... Necro Fantasia also appears as a song on the track... hmmmm...

[kozachenko]

Some thoughts on some of the newest CDS chapters below the read more tag for spoiler's sake, since I have read the newest one and have some thoughts

As flawed as Cheating Detective Satori is, one thing I will give it is how it shows the reactions of the spirits and Youkai living in Former Hell to the whole "sealing it up" thing. While I was initially annoyed about the whole "sealing former Hell" thing, I feel like the newer chapters have kinda made the whole thing make more sense, especially in the newest one where Parsee mentions how in the case of a vengeful spirit making too much trouble, Former Hell is just gonna seal right back up and become Hell again, which is a system that has been around since Former Hell was established. I think what this little addition does well is that in retrospect it makes the whole decision of sealing up Former Hell make a bit more sense. Also, the mystery that the latest chapter left off with (Parsee's realization that Former Hell must have been sealed from the outside) is really interesting, and had that bit of realization not been included by Parsee, it probably would've been a major plot hole that Parsee's tunnel also got plugged up when the whole system was made years ago when Former Hell was first established. Also, would Parsee know who Mizuchi is? Or have at least heard of her? Or is Mizuchi kind of treated like an SCP in Former Hell and is kept a secret from everyone else, even though in the earliest chapters of CDS, Satori mentions that Mizuchi has been a bit of a problem before, and Yuugi also knows her sooooo is this a writing mistake or intentional? Although there are a lot of vengeful spirits in Former Hell so knowing who each and every single one is is probably giving the denizens of Former Hell a bit too much credit lol. But still, Mizuchi seems to maybe be a more well known vengeful spirit so I'm still a bit confused on that, or maybe it could just be as simple as Parsee having never met Mizuchi when counseling vengeful spirits.

Maybe certain people aren't allowed to even see Mizuchi since they could be prime targets for her to possess people and escape. Which could also be related to the reason why she escaped in the first place, maybe she possessed someone with a grudge against Reimu or anyone in the Hakurei bloodline and used them to get out of Former Hell?

Also, when you think about that and the fact that Zanmu is the one who proposed the move, it gave me the headcanon that Zanmu also put that system in place since she wouldn't just leave it carelessly unattended. Since it's in her character to think ahead and meticulously plan things, why wouldn't she put this safety measure in place?

Utsuho and Koishi were also really good in this chapter, and Utsuho's title is so fucking good, I love it. Koishi also trying to get the other vengeful spirits to chill out is also a fun detail. Her point about the vengeful spirits not even being allowed to leave regardless is also something interesting to think about. Though it is explained in the manga that the vengeful spirits just needed a reason to attack, the idea of someone getting mad about the loss of a freedom that they would normally never use is very interesting to me.

When the manga is finished I'm most likely gonna do a full review on it, since my last one had way too much swearing and I was also really tired and wanted to sleep and I am just overall not happy with it. Plus, the manga seems like it's starting to get better, and with ZUN himself saying that he's aware of the criticism towards CDS, I'm gonna stay optimistic with this manga. Also, it would be really interesting to see how the people in New Hell react to the restoration of Former Hell, especially Zanmu due to how important she is in the actual creation of Former Hell, although a small part of me thinks that she would just go, "not my Hell, not my problem" and leave it at that, the other part of me thinks that would maybe be a little out of character for her. Like, I don't think she'd be panicking, but at the same time she's not gonna treat it like a non-issue. Though that could just be me since I like Zanmu a lot lol.

All in all, just a lot to think about with this new chapter.

[sukimas]

hmmmm. hmm. i wonder just what pattern that is on the cover of renko's newest notebook.

[xbuster]

Hewwo, if someone wants to get into Touhou what would you recommend them to start with?

the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil is usually going to be my suggestion. It can be a bit tough for new players because you need to play it on Normal to actually be able to beat the game, but I think that helps encourage players to improve. My suggestion is to first play the game on Easy and get to the end of Easy mode, then keep trying Normal until you can beat Remilia. It’s a good game to start with because there aren’t any intrusive gimmicks like some of the games following it have and it will familiarize you with Touhou’s most iconic cast.

If EoSD is too hard, Imperishable Night is the most beginner-friendly Touhou game. It’s also fun for new players because it has 8 total playable characters, the most amount of new characters introduced in a Touhou game, and it has a phenomenal soundtrack.

If you want to start reading Touhou literature, Curiosities of Lotus Asia was the first Touhou book ZUN published. It’s a short novel told by the perspective of Rinnosuke Morichika and is a good way to gauge how many of the characters act outside of the games. It’s probably the best book to start with. If you don’t want to read a novel, Eastern and Little Nature Deity was the first manga.

ZUN has also released a series of music CDs that have stories connected to them. They’re set in the near future in the Outside World, following the Hifuu Club and their adventures to uncover the mysteries of Maribel Hearn’s powers and to find a way into Gensokyo. ZUN’s first CD was Dolls in Pseudo Paradise, but that story doesn’t have anything to do with the Hifuu Club. The Hifuu Club stories don’t start until the second album, Ghostly Field Club.

[freshlybakedspiderbread]

ive always wanted to talk a bit about how i feel about the connection between Yukari and Merry because i love the endless parallels and thematic connections (like everyone else on the planet 😁), but wondering if it was ever 'worth' it since i may just be spouting a lot of what is already considered 'common knowledge' among hifuu aficionados. Not to mention i think my thoughts on it are somehow both really messy but also crystal clear. 😐 Well whatever! Its my own head anyway so i'll try not to worry and am gonna attempt to elaborate even if just a little on this post, which may not be entirely coherent due to sleepy, post-medicine fatigue.

i feel like over the years i may have started to become reflexively more 'against' yukari = merry fandom, although 'against' is probably too strong and its much more complicated than just "i dont subscribe to that theory" because thats not even entirely accurate!

it is of course a classic and really cool idea of the Merry one day becoming Yukari has been and continues to be thoroughly explored by many many fans for moving, tragic, bittersweet, or thought provoking work. I love Absolute One-Way Street, and also Dream and Reality among many other works like it 📖

but i also think its a little stiffling to think of that as the one and only story to tell about them? Now its possible that the sentiment im about to express isn't actually common and im actually just making up a person to respond to, but i think taking the teasing connections between Yukari and Merry and treating the idea of them being the same individual as the absolute obvious truth is a bit of a limiting perspective.

Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinions and headcanons! but i want to make a case that when it comes to touhou and especially hifuu in particular, there's also a richer (and possibly deliberate on the author? who knows!) point to treat it more abstractly.

Maybe they are the same person. Maybe one day Merry becomes Yukari, or Yukari becomes Merry. Maybe they're different people. Maybe they come from the same lineage. Or maybe one is a clone of the other grown in a lab or made with a magic spell.

None of that is as important to me as the the roles they serve in their stories. touhou has always had themes about the gap and the bridge between fantasy and reality by taking place in a world where fantasy seeks refuge from reality, and hifuu goes much further in that theme by taking place in a reality that has completely left behind fantasy. That parallel is really cool to me and its embodied perfectly by both stories having a purple-clad blonde girl with the means to poking their toes into the boundary between fantasy and reality.

In the fantastical world of touhou, one serves as gensokyo's powerful (if frustrating, shady, annoying, disagreeable) protector with allies that she watches over (and sometimes manipulates) with her great power, all to preserve their little wonderworld. And I think its sooo compelling how zun introduced hifuu in the music cds and designed a very similar-looking character, who lives in a stifled reality lacking in imagination, mostly spends her day chasing after even the smallest traces of dreams with a partner whose own small logical world expanded with infinite possiblities upon their meeting...

In the last few cds, Merry's powers may be growing stronger and i get why feeds the implication she's becoming something other than human. But my take on that has always been its more of a sign that she and Renko are already outliers in their world simply for daring to believe there is more to the world beyond facts and logic. I dont expect their story (assuming zun ever brings them back. we havent heard what theyre up to since 2016....) to ever end with both or either of them becoming a youkai or vanishing to gensokyo, because frankly that wouldn't serve any purpose for the themes hifuu has been about, which is embracing fantasy while living in a world that has abandoned it.

trying to remember what my point with this post is.... Oh right its that I think all these themes about the nature of gensokyo or the state of reality in hifuu are only made richer when you think about how they contrast with one another. And by extension, I think Yukari and Merry are both richer if you think of them as conceptual and thematic counterparts in two different stories on the opposite end of a similar spectrum, before thinking about what literal or objective connection they might have. Subjectivity definitely means more than objectivity in this case!