The most interesting thing about touhou
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Untitled |
| Creator: | @highimpactsex/kastelpls |
| Date(s): | September 7, 2019 |
| Medium: | Twitter thread |
| Fandom: | Touhou Project |
| Topic: | Touhou fandom |
| External Links: | Twitter thread, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
the most interesting thing about touhou is a Twitter thread about Touhou Project transformative fandom. The thread was retweeted 120 times and liked 240 times.
It has been called an "Interesting thread about how creators can invigorate (or snuff out) fan works based on how much they meddle with the text post-release."[1]
the most interesting thing about touhou is how it is able to foster a safe productive space for creators to pursue their interests in the franchise
this is best seen if you compare it to how the harry potter franchise deals with fan media and official worksthe harry potter fandom flourished because jk rowling unlike other creators (most notably anne rice) allowed people to write fanfiction
however she remains the totalitarian controller of hp and has been retconning elements fans hold dear
touhou on the other hand is very "free"ZUN allows most derivative works to exist as long as it does not become too commercial
and all he does is make old-school danmaku shmups that add lore while never going back to his games to modify elements
this provides a safe space for people to use elements of touhou they likesay, a creator finds the setting of gensokyo shrine interesting: they can reinterpret it whatever they wish and turn it into a dungeon with puzzle settings
there's also super robot taisen-styled fangames and yuri non-ero doujin that explore characters in different lightin a sense, ZUN has done what other creators like jk rowling were not able to: he has fostered the development of a creative subculture that remains active and vibrant to this day
there's different doujin bands rearranging ZUN's music to their heart's content, metroidvanias etcit's difficult to think of a franchise that allowed this much freedom to develop a safe creative space
let's not forget that touhou inspired people [like] nakatani to make genre-defining media like yagakimi
it's not an exaggeration to say today's yuri creators are inspired by touhouZUN is also fiercely critical of capitalism and surprisingly understanding of chuu2
in this quote written for side material, ZUN says that chuu2 is an aggressive reaction to the cold bitter hands of capitalistic society
therefore it is good to remain chuu2 (and drink)this train of thought came about when my discord server was discussing the subcultural and creative elements of the touhou fandom
stuff like a safe space for doujin and ZUN being quite woke about capitalism is not really discussed much in english language discourse about touhouall of this is to say that touhou is a really cool franchise for being so big and even friendly to indie creators out there
it's p amazing it is able to stem contenders like kancolle just because it is a sincere collaborative effort by fans and the creator to explore the settingpeople should check out touhou and what the franchise is able to influence
i guess touhou will probably be remembered as something as big as evangelion in the future because of how much impact it has done toward japanese media lol
Responses
srsly this thread is so tru.. i was very late in getting into touhou and the amount of fan content is insane. i can understand why some would be scared of getting into it because so much of the appeal is getting into the massive amount of content outside of the games i think there are some fans who haven't even played the games, and are just in it for the fan content lol. it just goes to show how active the fans are in creating stuff for this franchise.[2]
Honestly I always Touhou is second only to the Libre software movement, GNU Linux and so on, as to what I can imagine what the development of new ideas would be like after capitalism and copyright.[4]
This is the exact opposite to what actually happens. Touhou is probably the least safe fanbase, for anyone, that I've ever seen.[5]