What is Touhou?

The Rundown

Touhou IS:

A Bullet hell game series
From Japan
One of the longest-lasting Indie Game series
Appropriate and fun for all... if you're fast.

Touhou is NOT:

An anime (A cardinal sin among the community to call it this)
Made by a AAA Game studio
For everyone. Especially if you don't enjoy trial and error over and over.

Touhou is a game series originating from a single creator from Japan, known for its numerous characters, complex music, and game difficulty. As a Bullet hell (Local Danmaku) game, it heavily relies on reflex and awareness in order to dodge objects being constantly shot at the player.

Starting in 1997, there are currently 19 mainline Touhou games, with 13 spin-offs and numerous fan games. The amount of characters is just as numerous, sitting above 180. Its difficult to put an exact number due to mentioned only (Marisa's dad, Chang'e), characters who only appear in books (Rei'sen, Mizuchi), unnamed characters (Daiyousei, A Majority of PC-98 Midbosses), and duplicates of characters (PC-98 Yuuka vs Windows Era Yuuka). If only counting named characters that appear in the mainline games, the number sits at a whopping 112.

Touhou was started and almost entire still made by a single man: ZUN. All art, music, programming and characters are made entirely by him and have been for the past 35 years.

Music

The music of Touhou is difficult to describe in words, besides being highly experimental and influenced by classical European and Enka music. Its often characterized through the use of complex piano melodies, easily identified movements, and instruments like synths and trumpets (often affectionately referred to as a 'Zunpet' by fans). However, as the games have evolved, so has the music, with later songs including things such as Electric guitars and even vocals!

Examples:

The most well-known arrangement, U.N Owen was her? from Touhou 6: Embodiment of the Scarlet devil.. This is the battle theme for the character Flandre Scarlet, a 500 year old vampire who had been locked away for hundreds of years preceding the protagonists arrival. Flandre won the 2022 Touhou Character poll, being one of the only two characters to win who have not been a playable protagonist!

A very experimental arrangment is from the latest game, Touhou 19: Unfinished dream of all living ghost. Its the battle theme for the final boss, Nippaku Zanmu, A medival monk turned demon. Touhou 19 was a shock to many fans, not only for being a Vs. system which hadn't been used mainline since Touhou 9, but also for having appearences of characters who hadn't been seen in almost 20 years. Zanmu's compiziation stands out due to the use of Vocals resembling throat singing or Enka vocalization. Touhou music up to this point had been almost entirely instrumental, so the introduction was jarring but quite awesome.

My personal favorite arrangement: Green-eyed jealously. Not only is this my favorite song, it hails from my favorite game; Touhou 11 Subterranean Animism. Its the battle theme for Parsee Mizuhashi, a Persian jealousy monster who was banished to the underground. I love it not only due to my affinity of the character, but the mellow desperation felt through and the subtle arpeggios of the piano as it progresses. Its noticablely less upbeat than most songs, but still carries an angry almost resentful energy, perfectly in line with Parsee. In my opinion, Touhou 11 has some of the best boss themes of the game series, followed by 7 and 15.

Characters

One of the focal points of the whole series is it's abundance of characters. If you've looked into it on your own, you might have noted that the cast, all 180+ of them, seems to be entirely made up of girls! While not entirely ladies, they do makeup almost every major character you'll see. Most of these characters are based on creatures from Japanese, Chinese, and even European mythology. There is a large indicate world between each group all made by zun.

The two main protagonists have always been the same, since Touhou 3:

Reimu Hakurei, a human shrine maiden working at a pretty unsuccessful shrine who often involves herself in situations that hardly effect her. Has won first place on almost every Touhou popularity poll held.
Marisa Kirasame, a human magician with a penchant for mischief and being where she shouldn't be. Long time a friend of Reimu. Known to be untrustworthy and a petty thief.

However, these two are not the only protagonists. games will often, but not always, include:

Sakuya Izayoi, a human knife throwing maid with the ability to stop time. Despite her name, Sakuya is European and came to japan as a servent of the Scarlet Sisters.
Youmu Konpaku, a half-human- half-phantom gardener and samurai. She possesses a long sword, and two bodies, one being a ghost and the other human. Shes very powerful, but portrayed as airheaded at times and easily fooled.
Reisen Udongein inaba, a moon rabbit military deserter whose often out for herself. Shes a more recent addition to reappearing protagonists.

Male characters, as mentioned, exist but are usually not as important as the ladies. Men with notary include

Rinnosuke, a half human antique store owner in the books.
Youki Konpaku, former samurai-gardner and the grandfather of Youmu Konpaku. Mentioned only.
Unzan, a giant cloud-like spirit of a monk who aids the character Ichirin in battle.
Genji, an ancient flying turtle and pet of Reimu. Pc-98 only but later mentioned in Touhou 19 to fan's delight

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