You know what? I’m gonna use this thread as a Touhou general thread. I will post more as time goes on. For now, I realized that there is a video that shows off Gensokyo a bit better than what I already wrote.
【Touhou Anime】幻想万華鏡 ~The Memories of Phantasm~【東方】
I absolutely love this fan made project. I figure I can use it to explain a few things.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Touhou_Project_characters
That shrine you see is that is decrepit? That is the Hakurei shrine. In the real world, it looks like that, but past the great barrier, is is the one in Gensokyo.The first woman shown is Hakurei Reimu. She is a human who guards the shrine you see. She is mostly in charge of keeping the peace between demons and humans in Gensokyo.
Next up are the fairies. These are spirits of nature, thus they cannot stay dead if killed. Cirno, the one with ice wings is especially popular. Then… Everyone shows up. The reporter girl with the camera, her currently drunk assistant, the inventor in the bottom left, and several weak demons.
The 3 playing music are the Prismriver sisters. They are poltergeists who played music for their real sister before she died.
The one with the dolls is Alice Margatroid. She is a witch who uses these “living” dolls in combat. Her magic is channeled thru them.
Next is the small oni, Suika Ibuki. That gourd of hers never runs out of booze. She claims to be the last of her kind, but few believe she is a real oni. She can make herself huge though.
Ah, the gap demon, Yukari Yakumo. The single most powerful youkai I am aware of. He power is unique. It is called “Manipulation of boundaries”. What this means is that she can traverse space by entering a gap she makes, and appearing anywhere else. She likely helped form the great barrier thousands of years ago. She also can manipulate the metaphysical. This means the boarder between illusion and reality, life and death, etc. Her power holds few bounds.
Next up! The vampire sisters and their maid. It’s the cast of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I’m gonna skip them for now.
The woman with the sword is Youmu Konpaku. She guards her mistress in the land of the dead. She is half-human, half-ghost. The mistress is Yuyuko Saigyouji, a full ghost. You might call her death itself. Her ability? Invoke death… yes, she can kill anything that lives. She may be more powerful than the gap demon.
Next is the “Ordinary Magician”, Marisa Kirisame. A main character in most of the games. She is human with a penchant for stealing from people, and has powerful magic.
Too many! The scenes after are battles in the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Oh, that maid? She can stop time at will.
More later! Clearly, I am a massive fan.