What Genre is Touhou? | Worldbuilding Video Essay
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- Опубліковано 6 сер 2024
- The Touhou Project's unique use of fantasy elements in its worldbuilding are a large part of what has made the series so popular. In this video essay, I frame these elements using J. R. R. Tolkien's insights on Fantasy; and by extension- Fairy Stories. A conclusion to my series on what defines Gensokyo's fantasy.
While Touhou fans can enjoy a large variety of Touhou Fanworks, Official and Fan Games, and even Touhou Lore, there is the question of what makes these so captivating to so many people. In this video, I explain how the series builds a living world like that portrayed in publications such as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.
The chart of character inspirations at around ~9:46
/ chart_explanation_of_e...
Songs Used
Magical Girls Crusade
Legend of Hourai
Forest of Dolls
Legend of Aokigahara
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
The Purest Sky and Sea
A Maiden's Illusionary Funeral ~ Necro-Fantasy
Clair de Lune
Voice of Flowers
Flower of Life (NAGI☆ ver.)
0:00 Fairy Stories
1:14 Defining Fairy Stories
2:38 What is Fairy?
5:06 What is NOT a Fairy Story
7:04 Gensokyo as a Fairy Story
7:43 Subcreation
10:01 Secondary Belief
12:36 Fairy Story Elements
12:56 Fantasy
13:54 Recovery
14:43 Escape
15:58 Consolation
17:14 The Bottom Line
►Twitter: / gensouchronicle
►Artist Twitter: / sublime29854745 - Фільми й анімація
Today's episode of "I got tricked into watching a world building video disguised as a Touhou video."
😎
And unlike some of the tricks the fairies of Touhou will pull on you, I don't mind this one. 😊
>"Oh boy, a Touhou video essay! I wonder what exciting things about Gensokyo I'll learn!"
>5 minutes in
>"Damn those French things, they've sullied the identity of our Fairy Stories."
LOL
>watch Touhou video
>French slander
Another win for the world
On non, le 10735ième french slander que j'ai vu....
@@speaker6532 flûte !
Man, that conclusion almost made me cry. Touhou really is a beauty like none other.
I'm happy to hear I nailed that conclusion.
Yeah but Touhou Project is evil but they’re three o’s are 666 the number of the demonic beast because it’s a theory.
@@supersaiyaninfinityunivers7193 A GAY THEORY! THANKS FOR WATCHING!
@@PresidentFunnyValentine lmfao ok then
@@supersaiyaninfinityunivers7193 I hope you know I was just kidding around.
"You can't let yourself be held back by common sense in Gensokyo, right!?" - Sanae Kochiya
Common sense is a hindrance in gensokyo
The lack of common sense is a tool. Common says humans can't play Danmaku. But if I believe hard enough I can throw a Batik pattern if I wanted too
This really helps highlight some of the decisions ZUN has made in regard to what is shown in Touhou. We know that Gensokyo has a darker side, that it isn't real paradise but the facade of perfection maintained for the benefit of the youkai that live there. And yet, this is shown so rarely that it's easy to forget- why interrupt the happy fairytale with such grimness? The youkai eat humans, but it all happens off-screen and is basically never brought up (to the point that Yukari goes out of her way to avoid the topic when Kasen brings it up in WaHH). For the humans that live in Gensokyo, life is idyllic- peaceful, mostly, with any unrest being swiftly quelled by the shrine maiden and never posing a real threat to their way of life. Even the youkai enjoy a perfect existence: by halting scientific advancement, the humans will never be free of their own imaginations, allowing youkai to continue living- they get to keep to themselves, enjoy their lives, and sometimes start trouble with the assurance that as long as they stick to Spellcard Rules, nobody will actually get hurt.
And thus, Pseudo-Paradise becomes real paradise, and we all get to enjoy our fun little stories in the fun little world without needing to pay mind to what lies beneath. It's perfect, isn't it?
Nicely put!
Yeah, I kind of feel the same towards Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia. I've seen people criticize it for bringing modern problems into Gensokyo, but I think they're missing the point. The articles that bring up darker topics - like a pro-human, anti-youkai stance by Miko that resembles anti-immigrant slogans - are proved in the end to be misconstrued (Miko was actually talking about sweets taking over the food). So those modern problems aren't really finding parallels in Gensokyo. And at the very end of the book, Aya takes a hard look at her new fake news style of reporting, and she decides to reject it and go back to her normal style of bringing the truth. So the things that could sour our view of Gensokyo's paradise were ultimately rejected in the end, and all is well in the fantasy of Gensokyo.
Well said.
While technically correct, I think the message of the video is that Gensokyo _is a real Fairy Story_ , not a lousy Pseudo-Paradise. First, the video said that Gensokyo is honest, and I agree with it. It does not lie to you, but instead creates an illusion, quite self-consciously in fact. Second, the video mentions that one can have as much grief and pain (modern problems included) in the Fairy Story as one likes. Without problems the fantasy world would be dull and uneventful. And third, the essential part of a Fairy Story is the Reason. Indeed, in Gensokyo everything, down to a tiny detail, has a clear purpose. A human eaten by youkai in Gensokyo is necessary for its very existence. In the real world, however, in the grand scheme of things humans are killed for completely made up reasons.
In my opinion, this is what distinguishes a Fairy Story the most. People escape the absurdity and irrationality of the Real, not the struggle itself. This is further supported by the fact that the genre of fantasy gained popularity in the modern era of embraced meaningless and immense prosperity, unheard of for the most of the human history. There is less struggle than ever before, yet people escape to fantasy worlds, which can be explained by seeking the lost Reason.
TLDR. Your fantasy world does not have to be or pretend to be a Paradise to be a Fairy Story, quite the contrary in fact. The facade of perfection is an integral part of the Gensokyo setting, _not_ a way to somehow avoid interrupting a fairy tale.
the issue is that its openly stated that youkai only need fear to survive and not all youkai eat humans far from it,the youkai that do are just pure hedonists who dont care,thats why yukari implemented limits on it
10:06 - So did C.S. Lewis, the guy some might know as the author of the Narnia series.
"A children’s story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children’s story." He in fact refers to Tolkien's work on fairy tales in that specific essay.
Thanks for pointing that out!
“Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” - Guess who
@@CyberDagger003 Very nice!
"The truth is that Gensokyo has long since become my primary world, my primary sense. The Outside finds ways to make no sense to me, but I am obligated, for Gensokyo's sake, to make the Outside secondary." - Yukari, "Fantastical World and Greater Undertakings" (the epic doujin story I'm writing)
The reason I like setting's like gensokyo is simple it's because I love thinking in general and for me touhou project has many things for me to think about it's like a playground or training ground for my mind where I run thought experiments using the rules of the setting try and find out what's possible In this fictional world with that particular set of rules for example I often like to think about how powerful could a average person in a particular setting could become because it invites my mind to think so for me personally settings that have a lot of depth like gensokyo have a very practical purpose for me not only do they keep me entertained but he also helped to keep my mind sharp and active in a fun way in a way you could argue that's what one of the purposes of storytelling and the play in general is a way to practice for things in a fun and safe way which is what good stories and good games do even if on the surface they're just for entertainment.
Nicely put.
@@GensouChronicle I'm glad you think so that comment was mostly me thinking out loud with text-to-speech on my phone I guess it just came out so well because I was thinking about this stuff for a while for even thought of writing this comment.
@@izzymosley1970That explains the complete lack of punctuation lol
The greatest rebellion in a world who's innate state is suffering is daring to smile on and craft joy.
I think my favorite thing about Touhou it's focus on the subject of nature. Touhou's celebration of the natural beauty of the changing seasons has always stuck me as profoundly beautiful. It's ability to celebrate the impermanence and ever changing nature of the world around us in our everyday day lives is just incredible to me. It's a series that makes me happy to just be alive to experience the world around me and I will always love it for allowing me to open my eyes to that.
Exactly.
It's a very Japanese philosophy
Gets at what i like about touhou. A nice magical world where everything always works out in the end. Also tolkien would absolutely want to punt star sapphire through some goal posts
Lmao.
Touhou and a Tolkien really is the highest quality of culture possible
Damn.
This video deserves to become a touhou fandom classic, the kind that is watched and rewatched by generations of fans to come.
Lol thanks
Your best video yet... Together with the previous two worldbuilding analyses, you managed put the unstoppable power the Touhou series always managed to have, that power that always drew people in... you put it into clear and appreciative words, putting the "reason" of why this "fantasy" is so praised and loved, why this fantasy has always been many, many people's "escape" from a harsh reality, never losing the hope for "recovery" and possibility for a much happy and deserved "conclusion"... which I believe everyone needs at some point.
Thank you for putting mine and many others' long lasting love for this fantasy world into this amazing work. It was so needed to make outsiders understand that there's a lot more than they think in Gensokyo.
Glad to have supported you this far and I will keep doing it even more from now on, you deserve it and much more.
I'm glad it was worth the wait.
I thought he has only one previous worldbuilding analysis?
@@vuhaitran4429 Yeah, I just said it because at 17:22 you can see him also adding the Reimu's abilities video to this series
@@KurageHimari To clarify on why that's the case, the Reimu video helps to supplement the explanation of Consolation and the inclusion of a Eucatastrophe. It's pretty much key to the conclusion of this video.
Studio Ghibli is one of the best depictions of Faerie stories. Because, for example, when the main character is forced from their natural habitat and into a land or place of enchantment, we find the story one of survival, growth, discovery, and interconnectedness.
Studio Ghibli has the amazing ability to entwine the withered leaves with the gold, so that it can(for the characters) be brought home.
Ponyo- the Boy enters the faerie when he happens upon a weird fish, and his struggle comes in keeping his newfound companion from returning to seafoam, ie, withered grass
Mononoke-the Prince is forced from his home into the faerie land of the untamed woods, ripe with magic, but spoiled by human progress and industrial domination, his struggle is finding how to survive and keep the wild, magical love of his life(the princess) and to keep her from dying or getting killed. There is also the touch of morality, as he tries to find the best way to live in a changing world, where wonder and magic, embodied by the youthful and lovely princess, is at violent odds with the ordered and societal, embodied by the leperous and old grinding away at the city.
Howl's Castle- The entire Faerie could be said to be contained in the castle alone, or in the people that the young lady turned old tries to chase down. The struggle in that is for the girl to overcome her jadedness, and catch in her hands that golden dewdrop of imagined that fell past her eyes as a child, because in hers the magic is real, but only so long as you true believe and desire it.
Spirited Away- is quite literally a fairy tale in the same sense as the rest. The young girl wanders past magic barriers and is tested like Hansel and Gretel by an evil witch, and only through innocence and devoted love does she find her salvation, and salvation of her friends.
Kiki's Flying Delivery Service- a direct inversion of the scheme. The faerie tale comes into the real world, fights for survival amongst the hustle, bustle, demand, and heavy handed; but still finds an alcove and a corner of the eye of a young dreamer, the boy on the bike, to live and prosper in.
Very good examples. I personally love spirited away as a very clear example.
Reading this made me realize why I despise modern isekai plots.
@@timon6427 Good example, when the main character has to die to go to the Faerie, then it's starting out depressing.
Look at some of the more modern faerie movies coming out of Japan, I think one was called "The Boy and the Beast" it's about a normal kid adopted by magical creatures. He enters Faerie by being adopted, a much better premise than dying and being reincarnated in my opinion.
I think reincarnation was best done in the anime, Angel Beats.
This made me cry. So beautiful... perfectly described the essence of Gensokyo and Touhou Project as a whole. Thank you so much for making these awesome video essays.
I'm glad they elicited such a strong reaction. More video essays are on the way.
I'm almost disappointed it's only 19 minutes. I don't think I've had this much fun learning in a while. I've always meant to learn more about Tolkien, and this video has convinced me that I should.
His fairy stories essay is a great read. It's a bit under 40 pages long, but it says some really enlightening stuff. There are some great quotes from it that just didn't make it into the final script.
Very well done. A lot of good humour too Pompeii man was my biggest chuckle. ZUN is a real genius considering he manages to make this world while fuelled on beer.
I'm glad someone noticed Pompeii man lol
Thank you, you have put into words what i have felt about the world of gensokyo and it's inhabitants, a fantasy of fantasies: A world where belief could truly affect reality.
And including Osana Reimu on the happy ending section? Thank you for the nostalgia.
I felt it was most appropriate. Thanks!
No wonder it took you so long, this is easily your best video so far. I feel like I've gained a much clearer insight of Touhou and the what makes a fantasy.
I really wanted to surpass what I did with the first Worldbuilding essay. So I'm happy to hear people call this one my best yet.
> Logic is ironically, KEY to a good fantasy.
^ This thing right here.
Favoriting this video just so I can refer to it.
I really love these essays! I feel like many people don't engage with Tolkien's academic work, but he had an incredible legacy in literature and folklore. It's really fun to see his genre lens brought to Touhou as an analytical tool and one possible explanation for the resonance and catharsis for Touhou. I appreciate that Touhou is unfailingly optimistic and creates a sense of supernatural wonder. It is an incredibly well realized fantasy world and embodies the hopeful nature of the fairy story (although I disagree with Tolkien's belief that the incursion of echoes of the real spoil secondary belief- the real will always seep into work in some way, and handled deftly and fit within the subcreation they can become a part of escape and catharsis- though that has little to do with Touhou). Really great introduction to Tolkien's work on genre and a fun exploration of the reader/player reception side of Touhou as a work of fiction. Definitely makes me want to delve back into Tolkien's essays again- it's been a long time since I touched any of them!
I always love seeing other people that have an appreciation for both Tolkien and Touhou on these videos! I did have a question though. Did Tolkien explicitly say influence of the real world spoils secondary belief? I interpreted his comments on the matter as being in reference of pushing some political agenda- as I think he was often accused of pushing anti-industrialism in Lord of the Rings. And thus specifically in regard to placing real world matters within the world in a way that does not fit. I kept it a bit vague in the video(purposely), but this is what I meant in reference to topical issues.
Either way, I agree with your take specifically in that simply aspects of the 'real world' would not spoil belief. Touhou is the perfect example of that.
@@GensouChronicle Well, I'd say myself that to give a human mind so much power as to freely choose what it produces is folly. No matter what, reality seeps into fiction and whomever may engage with it will notice it, analyze it, apply it to reality - there's no true escape from reality because fiction by itself is a way to "honor" reality, no?
So, while Tolkien may have been annoyed that he was ascribed to consciously perpetrate some message, it was undountable that messages have been sent, by the mere coincidence of his experience and the angle from which these experiences he manifested onto page.
So, all that taken, what might one lose from more consciously trying to view not just the in-fiction but what it creates itself in turn? To make a conscious effort to engage with reality through fiction? Well, that's how I think of it, anyway.
I'm frankly rather tired of people going off about "agendas", so frequently uttered in nothing short of ignorance and narrow-mindedness , that the word itself just kinda lost its meaning to me, now relegated to being a dog whistle. So, this is a charged comment, I guess is what I'm trying to say.
@@thosebloodybadgers8499I agree with this 100%. You can try your best not to put any political subtext in your story, and a reader can try their best to ignore it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there. Even if it wasn’t Tolkiens intention, the way people interpret and consume media and the messages they gain can’t be changed. And especially with the historical context it’s easy to see why people thought he was against industrialism. Fact of the matter is, it’s impossible to escape politics in media. As long as you want to provide something of any substance to an audience, that will inherently be political by nature. Even the absence of substance can be a political view itself.
Most of the time people have a negative view of “pushing political agendas” but it seems like many people don’t even know what that means or they just use it incorrectly. Anytime you reaffirm your beliefs you are “pushing” your agenda. There’s nothing inherently wrong with having a political agenda, that’s what makes you a conscious human with opinions and beliefs.
I think both of the people above me are missing the point. Yes, the way an author views the world will naturally influence their writing, but there's a difference between these themes emerging naturally and being subtly woven into the rest of the story, and an author simply making the "good guys" an obvious stand-in for their preferred political ideology, and the "bad guys" an obvious stand-in for the one they don't like. The first one has potential to be interesting, and to lend your world an extra level of depth, while the second will inevitably break your audience's immersion and just make them think of whatever political conflict you've chosen to make your story an allegory for. If they agree with you, they get a nice sense of confirmation bias, and if they disagree, they're just left annoyed; either way, there's no interesting result, and nothing is accomplished.
@@hrgrhrhhr Exactly this. Thank you.
I'm not really too knowledgeable on Touhou, but I got to say this is a masterful video essay and a real gem. Didn't expect to see Tolkien and Touhou together, but it's a pleasant surprise. As a fan of fantasy, it is nice to see someone describe the actual purpose fantasy is supposed to fulfill. It seems that many have become anti-escapists, just as the world seems to get worse based on perspective, and many more a following in that path. Even though we should always acknowledge and never be ignorant of realism, both with the good and bad moments life gives us, what is the point of life if one chooses to be actively miserable, actively avoiding escapism as a disease? If one constantly lives in fantasy, their life will be wasted to their delusion, but if one actively lives in harsh realism, one will rarely be happy. Love the use of Tolkien's quotes, couldn't have said it better myself and really enjoyed how you explained the concept of good world building.
Thank you! There were a lot of really good quotes I wanted to use, and as a result, I ended up making the video longer to fit them in. But I'm glad they are appreciated.
Your previous video essay made me read "On Fairy Stories" and it was a great read. In a sense, thanks you.
It seems incredible that a game series like Touhou which is not only based on the story (it can be a great part for most people of course but I often hear about it for its gameplay phases) achieved to created a well-established worldbuilding like this. It's rare to see something like this even in the fantasy stories ourdays (with the big Isekai wave in mind).
It makes me even curious to get started on this series that I only heared about it through memes and web culture.
Glad that I inspired you to read it. I definitely recommend checking touhou out. It can seem a bit daunting with how big the series is, but even starting small will let you appreciate it. And of course, I have a guide to the canon that I've made.
@@GensouChronicle In fact, I tried Touhou 1 and it was very disturbing because it seems more like a hard brick-breaker game without story so it made me stopped. But after watching your video I really want to try Scarket Devil and some mangas too (like Forbidden Scrollery), I didn't know that official mangas exists !
@@tailstails6896 Haha, yeah. Touhou 1 is very different from the rest of the series. I'm glad you're trying it out. And yeah, official manga as well as some full-sized lore books with character profiles.
These videos are so relaxing, and the occasional humor is great. This is my favorite touhou channel rn
I'm glad you find them relaxing.
Was not expecting you to point a morally grey arrow at a Cirno fumo, but my expectations have gone through the roof
Oh wow, this was great! It gave me some ideas for my own stories as well, love the vid!
Glad to hear that. The purpose of these videos is to express the identity of The Touhou Project in its purest form for people to gain a wider appreciation for it. If that has succeeded in its goal, then I consider this video a success.
bravo, finally some quality content on the internet, I will keep in mind to read Fairy Stories, please continu your educated videos, it is always a pleasure
It's a short but dense read. (Less than 40 pages.) But super enlightening and full of great lines from Tolkien. Even the bit I have at the beginning of the essay is what he says very close to the opening of it.
I don’t know if it was intentional but I loved your choice of Jesus Joy of Man’s Desiring (along with the specific performance of it) during your section on Escape, considering it was also played in EoE during one of the most direct messages to the viewer about escapism.
100% intentional. That rendition of the song I felt HAD to be played during that section.
16:22
Ah, of course.
This sort of imagery appears when talk of sadness. 😢❤
Naturally.
Wow this is a really well argumented love letter to the series, I actually always wondered why exactly I enjoy Touhou so much but your videos gave me the answer: it's so immersive because it just works, it's full of characters, places and stories and yet it still makes sense , it does't break the secondary belief as you said, so the answer truly is: Touhou is the quintessential fairy tale.
Awesome video!
Thanks! This is what I wanted to portray.
Thank you for this video. It was very comforting and I also feel like I understand the fundamental nature of Touhou Project more now. Please keep up the good work
Thanks. This was my intention with all of my video essays to this point. I'm glad it has been felt.
Impeccable work! These types of Touhou videos provide quite the insightful analyses unlike any I've ever seen about the series.
Looking forward to whatever is in store!
More video essays!
15:43 This brings up an interesting thought. If the Outside World is supposed to be an almost exact copy of our own then expanding it would require for the series to focus on real world events/topical issues. As such there is a risk of potentially breaking the suspense of disbelief and "failing" as a story. Which might explain why ZUN seems to be hesitant to use it in his stories after the inclusion it had during the "Sumireko saga".
Definitely agree that the Sumireko saga was a moment in which this topical issues were very obvious and that might be hard to navigate through without failing as a fairy story. I do think still that topical issues have always been a part of Touhou and still are, although in a more subtle way. Curiosities of Lotus Asia referring to Japanese imperialism and the "memory" of societies to not make the same mistakes again, the talk of contradiction of spirituality and progress with Miko, Hijiri and Yasaka, and later the physical market stuff with the pandemic.
You might be conflating what I referred to as topical issues with just any modern events. Referencing modern events is fine. What breaks immersion is when there is an ulterior message fueled by modern-day political contention and other similarly debated topics. Things like that end up feeling forced, and instead of thinking about the media itself, it draws attention to some real-life issue that has no business being present.
@@GensouChronicle Thank you for the response! I was including thoughts on traditionalism, history revisionism, philosophy and the such that are present in Touhou as topical issues alongside more heated modern contention points, but I wasn't thinking of those as instantly breaking the immersion (I'm pretty sure some written works can make some readers immerse even more and others break out of it completely). I think I agree with what was said that breaks immersion in Fairy Stories. Also, you've made me remember that I should probably read more of what Tolkien had to say, as well as more of his works. I have some in my family that refer to him as "The Professor" lol so I definitely have someone to talk about his works.
Exactly. This is why I want to make that distinction. Touching on history or referencing pop culture isn't immersion being for Touhou because it's a core part of its fantasy. Pop culture slowly bleeds in. Likewise, history is shared.
@@GensouChronicle
I would disagree that topical issues are by default immersion-breaking and violate the principle of "escape". Touhou offers a lot of commentary on social issues that are definitely more subtle but nevertheless vital parts of why the stories work the way they do. For instance, the Hifuu CDs often have Merry and Renko discussing a world that's implied to be devastated by ecological collapse and wealth hoarding, where the super-rich take moon tours while plants do not grow and children do not smile anymore.
ZUN himself states that the series serves as a diary of sorts for him. In ULiL, Sumireko is motivated to go to Gensokyo partly because she’s sick of the chilled outside world where she thinks people are increasingly fake and shallow, and embraces an attitude of chuunibyou which ZUN himself endorses in one of the music CD afterwords. On this topic, ZUN states, “The true nature of this adolescent posturing is the heat of life. It's an explosion of one's imaginative power. It's a form of resistance against a chilled society, wielding both purity and creativity. Lately, I've been thinking: how can I maintain that "eighth-grade" attitude until the day I die? If I can do that, I can enjoy sake for my whole life.”
I think rather than shying away from topicality, ZUN embraces it in a way that doesn’t really “shove it in your face” or feel out of place; as you say, everything has to make sense for subcreation proper to work, and the ways in which these topics pop up make perfect sense. The other, perhaps even more important part is that ZUN infuses his topicality _with_ the fourth element you describe, consolation. By writing the various character arcs and sometimes the attitude of chuunibyou itself as pathways to eucatastrophic (or at least contented, satisfied) endings to problems that are sometimes parallels to what we see in the real world, ZUN gives us hope in that similar answers and similar joy can be found _in_ the real world by embodying those principles. This IMO is what separates Touhou from a lot of other would-be similar works, which peddle overtread tropes like “hard work” or “struggle” or “fighting to the bitter end and fighting better” as the answers to conflicts societal and personal. Sure those are important, but those can only take you so far. To ZUN, the fantastical isn’t just an escape from your problems while the world burns; it’s the answer itself.
this was incredible, genuinely touched me, especially the conclusion. stellar job, mate.
Glad that the ending was felt.
Using clownpiece as an example of a "litteral creature" is very correct
tolkien's ability to articulate such profoundly innate properties of the human imagination is truly brilliant
The participatory aspect of Touhou with the shared universe and fanwork allows people to "be there" in Gensokyo in a way few fantasy worlds ever manage. It also defies (self consciously imo) the traditional market-driven logic that a big fantasy franchise must be one continuous buildup to an existential conflict that concludes the series. Some people understandably find that lack of stakes and "epic" pacing frustrating, but it's also what allows for the Vibing aspect that's become so central for contemporary Touhou fandom, and what makes the characters feel so alive.
It's that exact frustration I hear from certain fans that I'm partially trying to placate with my two worldbuilding videos. There doesn't need to be a progression and conclusion. It just needs to be Gensokyo. And from within that world, any number of stories can be built.
You describe it quite well, I must say I’m impressed.
And it only took 2 months. lol
There is a lot of philosophy involved in such a topic, and could really tie deeply into other aspects to prove the point even further and more drastically. "Escape" being the most foreboding, is also, I'd assert, the most corrupted aspect in it's invitation as a means to supplant reality with new reason. However, that some things being unexplained not being plot holes is not just beneficial feature, but explicitly necessary to the _faerie_ or the _fae realm_ not only because over reasoning can create logic issues for the incapable, or that attempts to reason all is beyond ones ability, but because like our own primary reality it requires some base faith in our humanity, that we and reality matter and is; therefore similarly reason and faith are both needed, to temper one another, and without it you lose to world; falling out of it, or attempting to destroy it.
I think Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" series would be a good example of something that might appear as a fairy story, but is not, as similar to a "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." as it's extensions and knowledge of the universe yet unknown or inconceivable by most, traveling though space, time, dimensions, scale, emotions, et al. It may seem like it would be, but it explicitly bases itself in the unknown of our reality and not a new creation. Otherwise, it is very close and leverages the same strengths and universals. Or perhaps an attempt of blending fae and science; not "sci-fi" but science fantasy.
For like the leaves of gold, one's belief and creativity gives dominion to the existence of the realm and existence in the realm gives it dominion over you. Or said differently, and why I think "A Wrinkle in Time" doesn't quite apply, the magic of faerie is godly over the realm, born of creativity and manifestation where as the magic of our own reality is that of knowledge and manipulation.
A very good video/essay, thoughtful and well connected on the topic. Extrapolating that requires some knowledge of Touhou, if wanting to think of certain elements; however, if had made those examples it may have been constraining to consideration when the concept on it's own is far more important. And much more can be thought of and philosophized.
Very well put on all of your points. Especially on the point of some answers remaining ambiguous being a necessity as opposed to a feature.
Great video! I love the in-depth analysis of what a fairy-tale is, especially since such old genres can be really hard to define.
I might offer a new perspective on the topic of secondary belief, though. I wouldn't say that suspension of disbelief is "an inferior form of secondary belief" or that "a good story should avoid needing [it]". I think Tolkien agrees with those sentiments because they are integral to his stories, but I think the breaking of immersion has become a new form of innovation in fairy tales. I point to Terry Pratchett's "Discworld", a fantasy series that is, by all our definitions, a fairy-tale. It's considered one of the founders of fantasy satire. And yet, it regularly uses the breaking of immersion as a tool OF immersion. When thunder rolls, the narrator tells us the result of the roll from one to six. When the text uses an acronym or roman numeral, the characters react as though it had been pronounced phonetically. These aspects all yank us out of the story... but it also pulls us directly into the satire because it makes us laugh. This makes the satire better, and I would even argue that it MAKES the satire. So I don't think we should be so quick to pass off immersion-breaking as bad, but simply as anything else in storytelling. It is a tool. A screwdriver seems inferior to a hammer only when it is used to drive a nail.
Edit: darn UA-cam formatting.
this video is crazy good actually so cool to see things like this that dive into the fundamentals of story telling
Amazing Video. I also really love those in-game 3d backgrounds.
I love them too! Someone uploaded a bunch of them, but I think they stopped a while ago, unfortunately.
"The land of fantasy" for a reason.
Touhou is Child-friendly Japanese mythology.
A beautiful video essay, lovely work.
well you forget, fey doesn't just refer to sprites, it also refer to the Dullahan, Banshee, etc.
So believe it or not, this actually made me cry a little... I've been trying to put into words for quite a while now what exactly has captivated me so much about the world of Gensokyo and this video brought to me all the answers in the most cathartic way possible.
First of all, this quote 7:43. This quote sums up, more powerfully and eloquently than I could ever dream to, the primary reason the world of Gensokyo inspires so much awe. It is a product, in more ways than one, of mankind's infinite creative spirit. Or as Tolkien puts it, a product of subcreation.
Brief aside but wow Tolkien was truly a master of his craft and leader in his field lol. It's something that seems obvious but goes underappreciated. If nothing else, thank you for conveying that through these videos.
Finally, the four points at the end. As you said, they are all naturally coherent with Gensokyo, but the idea of "recovery" has struck a cord with me the most. No other franchise has stoked the innate fascination and drive to research in me as much as Touhou ever since I explored the world of Pokemon for the first time as a kid. Getting into Touhou has brought back something I never thought I'd feel again.
All in all great video, it's difficult to express all my thoughts here and this comment is already long enough as is, but yes it was well worth the wait.
Thank you. As much as the research took a while, it was perfecting the script that I think took the most effort. Especially the 4 elements.
This put all my scattered, abstract feelings into words about the series. I can not thank you enough.
I've been enjoying your videos a lot, I love lore and video essays. Have you ever thought about making a video on each of the main touhou titles? More specifically talking about the lore of a certain title and how that compares to real life mythology or history, and/or how it relates to touhou lore overall. The ones I am very interested in would be touhou 8, 13 and 16
I have. I don't think I'll be doing them for a while, though. I have a lot of ideas that need to precede them.
I had never seen a video about Gensokyo like this.
Really enjoyed it!
I liked how you describe the phenomena between the lore in fairy tales (Tolkien, Brothers Grimm, Lafcadio Hearn...), ZUN's objectivity/subjectivity, and the point of view added by media/fandom.
A fantastic multiverse with no time, or a cauldron in which all its ingredients work together without following a particular recipe or rule, working perfectly just like that.
Gensokyo's story and context had always intriged me for many years, and I'm still loving its concept of being the faeryland that "grows" in terms of relashipships beetween the differents types of characters and landscapes.
Your video essay is to me a wonderful way of honoring ZUN's art.
Because is precisely the love and appreciation we have towards it what connects us to that fantasy world.
Thank you Gensou Chronicle. Very cool.
You're welcome, Brian.
Really well put together video! I loved how you talked about and explained the different elements of story. The conclusion reminded me of why I like Touhou and Anime stuff so much. Always loved rich lore and well written characters.
Thanks. This video was a lot of work, but I'm always happy to see people enjoy it.
@@GensouChronicle You're welcome. The visuals were pretty great too.
I shouted with joy as soon as I saw poprication's Stargazer.
Thank you for the amazing videos you make such as this one.
Glad to hear you read it. It's definitely one of, if not my favorite doujin. Thanks for watching!
I can appreciate the quality of your informational videos, whether they are silly or serious, please keep up the great work ❤❤❤❤❤
A little note: Technically Gensoukyo is somewhere within japan, and there is a magical barrier that prevents its easy (but possible) entrance, so even though it is located in our world, it is not unaccessible entirely by a very long distance, but by a barrier that is obviously non existant, similar to a magical portal, in a way that you'd need to use fictional means to get there, contrary to getting to a galaxy very very far away, where you'd only need a very fast rocketship
I love the way you put all of these together for an amazing video essay. Hopefully more people would see it too
Hopefully.
I cried. I love Twohoo and Tolkirn so much.
Great video, really got me thinking about fairytales in a different way
Absolutely fantastic video.
Thank you so much for the hard work!
I wish there were a lot more manga based on Gensokyo.
It is such an immersive world, I do not even play the main game, but the music, setting and visuals are top notch.
Luckily, this is when fan creations come in and bring their own perspectives. A lot of them are really nice.
@@GensouChronicle is there somewhere and index of them? I know the sinner in blue and the fairies series. The rest I know are nsfw doujin
@@octapusxft Check out my guide to touhou canon video and the touhou wiki. Lists everything.
Thanks for this quality video.
FINALLY Ive been waiting so long for this followup video
Yup. It only took more than half a year!
What a great video, I have no words apart from thanks for making it
Glad you enjoyed it!
The king returns
There's a Lord of the Rings joke I could make somewhere lol
This makes me smile. Thank you
Your comment made me smile.
Holy shit. How the hell you only use two month to make a essay like this. This is amazing video,not only I do learnt something in a Touhou video. It also make me question myself why I like Touhou Project so much. I hope more content creator make video like this on youtube. Is such a massive shame that this channel have so less subscribe and veiws! Definitely one of the most underrate Touhou content creator
To be fair, this video took a little over 2 months with just the research alone. But either way, I'm very happy with what I made.
This is a beautiful video essay.
I hope you stay well.
Thank you.
This video achieved what it tried to state, really. When I first saw this I was like Touhou? As a fairy tale? It was because I didn't have a clear idea of what fairy tales actually are and how they should be defined. The video started by explaining what a fairy tale really is, and consolidated what it wanted to depict. It also went through some of the parts worthy of attention such as subcreation aspects and secondary belief. The subject matter being cited by Tolkien in the background made it even better. By the end, I agreed and accepted with what the video wanted to state because of how well placed and accurate the parts were. Like it's hard not to look at Gensokyo as a fairy tale now.
My favourite part however, was where it went over through the fairy story elements as it clearly answered as to why I got attached to certain communties, Touhou being one of them. Fantasy acts as a solace and temporary escape from the everflowing stream of reality. Often difficult to accept and chaotic, we find peace in these creations, a sort of world where we can heal. This is also the primary reason why we enjoy fictional creations so much, because we want to experience the days of our past when things were somewhat more acceptable and enjoyable by our own selves, when they were a lot simpler than they are now.
I also liked the part where it explained that not only having a fictional existence in the world we created is enough but explaining as to 'why it exists' plays an even more important role. Having a firm yet sensible reasoning is necessary for the readers to comprehend what the story is trying to portray. I had a question as to how to install the concept of primary belief within the reader when they are already aware of the fact that they are delving into a fictional construct and that part cleared it for me.
A really well made yet underrated video which talks about a more serious topic often not viewed by the community.
Awesome video!
Love your work man
Thanks!
Nice video dude
Thanks!
Has anyone called you a gift? Cause hun, you're up there among the most appreciated people on this community.
In my book, at least
Yay. I'm a gift.
Sir, what an amazing, wonderful video. I'm a bit late even though it was the one I was waiting the most and now regret not having watched earlier. As a player and DM of tabletop rpg, your essay videos takes me to a higher level of understanding about things I create. I'm sure from now on I'll be to write better stories.
Gotta say, everything was beautifully explained and inspirational, there were lots of details about fairy tales that I knew, but couldn't point out before, and even more that didn't know. It's things like this that makes me love Touhou even more.
On that note, I would like to say that, in my opinion, PoFV's incident and it's novel, A Beautiful Flower Blooming Violet Every Sixty Years, captures Gensokyo's mysteryous, subtle and mesmerizing atmosphere the most. The flower incident shows us that it is only an incident for us, fleeting humans, but nothing worth remembering for the long-lived youkai, and even so, Gensokyo still is a paradise for both. It's amazing how believable it is even if everything soflty screams "fantasy" at me. Man, I love Touhou 9.
Anyway, thanks for the magnificent video!
Thank you. And yes, that story is a very good read. I took the time to mention it in my Canon Guide in the hopes more people read it.
Man, give me those withered leaves.
Beautiful essay! :)
Haha. Already working on getting more.
Good work!
Thanks!
Touhou, Gensokyo, is one of my very first places of escapism. I was in a dark place at the time I discovered it. After that, I stabilized and everything felt whole again despite being broken. The world I lived in looked fixed because I wanted to see the broken yet true form of Touhou.
This makes me want to see an official Touhou anime more
I cant believe I can use touhou as a literature medium as a topic about fantasy for my literature class
Y'know, this is probably why ZUN doesn't really care about doujins. It's basically the point of touhou. Fans are free to make alternative versions of the story and setting in whatever way they please, to twist it around and put their own spin on it for different purposes, much like actual fairy tales. The ambiguity of details definitely helps with this, because people can interpret it in different ways.
This also creates an interesting thing where 90% of touhou's substance isn't found in the games, but from extrapolating things based on the small portion of knowledge you can get from them.
That ending was quite beautiful and just reminds me why I love video games. Most of the ones I play are just fairy stories, with the Touhou project being the most fairy out of all of them. A peaceful land with just the right amount of excitement so one doesn't get bored and pull a Tenshi. In a way Gensokyo can feel more like heaven than heaven itself. The ultimate fantasy in which one wishes to be spirited away to. All the while our eternal shrine maiden conducts and maintains the most wonderous happy ending, while at the same time not feeling too burdened by such a task like some gods typically are. With everyone, including the maintainer living peacefully we get the ultimate fantasy.
Very well put. This is how a good fantasy should make us feel.
very amazing in everything
Very thanks.
Genyokyo is a fairy tale about the necessity of fantasy itself. Youkai are wonderful for this story as they can only exist as long as their presence in the mind of humans is still there. So Genyokyo must include both the real and the fantastical to exist and smear the boundaries of both aspects. Yukari in this world is the higher power that resembles fairy perfectly. Old but eternally young, childish and playful but not at all unrealistic in her behavior. All for internal consistency but her power made to break expectation and ask for the suspension of disbelief by the power of imagination and cross-association. Reimu is the perfect protagonist. Upholding the barrier between the real und the fantastical and making sure none overpowers the other. It's genius.
Very nicely put.
@@GensouChronicle I am curious. Which of the games or licensed novels and manga represents gensokyo best in this manner you described it in?
As I have been playing with the idea of developing a similar concept with a different mythology, this comes handy, I have now realized something very important.
I need a lot of alcohol.
Lol
0:24 Uhh….
Beautiful vid btw!
C. S. Lewis said that as he grew older he could enjoy fairy tales more. I feel the same way with Touhou. When I was young I had a really immature view of it, accepting some ideas of the fandom that Gensokyo was a technologically-backward grimdark hellhole. You have no idea of how silly I feel now when I think of this. But the more I grow up, the more I can enjoy it for its sense of wonder and creativity even if the canon is not the best written story at all.
I feel this lack of respect for fairy stories is part of the reason why less and less recent stories are unable to connect with the audience. Everything has to be so self-aware and we are suppose to rejoice in irony and "gotcha" moments with the audience ("subverting expectations", no mister I don't want to invalidate the eucatastrophe just to have a "gotcha" moment), that we end up losing sight of what really matters in a story.
Very true. It would be nice to have stories like that once more.
Hearing this video just made my brain expand
I love this fantasy
Nice new thumbnail and title update!
Yup. Hopefully, it will be a bit better lol.
I like touhou because even though the games are about incidents but other than that in the background there’s the peaceful Gensokyo with all our favorite characters
9:23
Ah yes, just like Granma would read to me at bedtime.
-__,-
oh another epic story
I barely know anything about Touhou. I got into it from the music, and I know a bit about the popular characters but that's about it. I played Touhou 6 but didn't complete it. Gensokyo itself is a mystery to me, I know nothing. But seeing this great, well put together and entertaining video alongside the comments under it has made me wish to properly get into the series. I want to experience the world of Gensokyo !
Happy to see this interested you in the series enough to check it out. Thanks.
I believe in my heart of hearts that Tolkien and ZUN would have been good friends.
Language barriers aside I can imagine Tolkien with his pipe and ZUN with a mug of beer just talking about their works.
Really liked this video since I had never heard about Tolkien's definition of fairy stories, however I'm thinking that you should put the sources in your videos or in the descriptions, not only because it's "morally correct" (whatever that means) but also for the sake of knowledge and curiosity! Hbomberguy's 4 hour video might have influenced my thoughts about citing sources and plagiarism and so on but I am actually curious about discovering more regarding Tolkien's concept of Faerie and it's connections to the Touhou world! (And also since I'm a Touhou nerd I'd like to know where the background pictures and videos are from to look at more of them)
Great vid! Will there be a part 3 to this series? Maybe how middle earth started as a con lang and touhou started as a simple game and how they into an expansive universe? I think thatll be interesting
There was a planned third part that would look into when touhou actually started Worldbuilding. I'll make it depending on if this video ever takes off, though.
Yeah!
I knew there was a reason my favorite works of fiction were Tolkien's fantasy and Touhou, despite those two seemingly being very different. Actually, not that much! Super cool video, I'll have to watch the other one you did on Tolkien!
(Also not a jab at you cause I got this wrong for years myself lmao, but Tolkien in life pronounced his name "Tol-keen"!)
Thanks. And yeah, good to know on the name bit.
Comment for algorithm power, this video deserves it!
Thanks!
3:33
I Salut him, that pure bloody hell of an englishman.
the goat
Damn I'd never heard the withered leaves quote from Tolkien
It's in his On Fairy Stories essay. I believe it's in the very beginning.
if you want a fairy story with a very similar effect to touhou I highly recommend the oz books
Aw hell yeah, new GensouChronicle upload
also: 4:07 SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI MENTIONED LETS FUCKING GO🎉🎉🎉🎉🎊🎊
I've been an SMT fan only a little shorter than I've been a Touhou fan. Maybe there's an alternate world where I'm doing analysis on the philosophy behind those games? lol
Tolkien really said "Do not bring The French near me, for there will be heavy consequences if you do"