>>17983
No problem. The writer was a friend of mine, though we've lost touch for various reasons, so I can't pass on those sentiments. I'm sure he'd have been glad to hear it.

>>17980
Best story on the site, in my opinion. There's nothing quite like it, and I wish there was more. If only The Kinu Yasumi Almanac got finished...

>>17987
Speaking as a collaborator on that one, it would have been hard for Kinu to finish since the writer, uh, didn't plan much and lost interest in figuring it out after a while. Rural Concord ended up being something like a spiritual continuation, even if it wasn't strictly the same.

>>17978
>I've heard people say that Renko could be Chang'e as well. But I have no idea how that would happen as it has way less evidence and seems pretty far fetched.
I don't particularly like any "Renko is [a different Touhou character]" theories, because they defeat the point of the character as I see it. Renko may be smart and imaginative, but she's really just a normal girl who had the misfortune of befriending Merry with all of Merry's strange changeable dreams, hell travels and Yakumo Yukaries. A kind of foil, I guess.

Anyway, if we are going to attempt to revive the discussion, then I'd like to talk about Alice. I've been commissioned to draw her, so, in a way, I'm actually obligated to think about her, but I like her anyway, and can articulate why, so why not.

>>17189
Yes, exactly. I agree with your read. She really is basically a dedicated doll otaku. It's probably why I like her as much as I do - we share that hobby! I've only been at it for a few years, but I'm a doll and figurine collector and customizer too. In that sense, she's instantly very easy to relate to. I also definitely see how she would be the type to appreciate the craftsmanship of any given thing first and foremost - a dedicated craftsman like her would naturally care about the skill, the technique, the method, the process through and through, the fine details, the deliberation. Alice is a hands-on aesthete. And, you know, as refined and passionate as it may seem, it's actually a bit limiting! Because of this tendency, I'd say she would also be someone who naturally fixates on small details and technicalities too much, which is why I believe her ability to put concepts together to form a bigger picture or articulate what that bigger picture is might suffer. It's not anything immediately apparent, she's obviously not an airhead or an idiot, and certainly doesn't look like one from the outside - she knows how to appear intelligent, clearly, and has enough restraint to do it. I just believe that she would think in different, more narrow and static terms. Well, at least that's what being too used to such thinking patterns leads to, from what I know.
She's not the social type either, appearing to be quite self-sufficient, easily able to entertain herself when alone, usually with her beloved craft. It's an admirable trait, isn't it? A healthy, non-maladaptive kind of introversion. She seems to be quite cold too, not rude or unpleasant, quite polite, but distant. I don't like it when she's portrayed as secretly lonely and longing for company, though. Maybe some find it cute in

>>17988

Very interesting take on Alice's backstory. Touhou's openness of interpretation is one of its most excellent qualities.
The only other take on her backstory I've read was from Takerfoxx's Imperfect Metamorphosis, which took Akyuu's word as fact that she was a youkai magician. Alice had magician-hood forced upon her by her mother as a gift (which she didn't want) and was a normal human before that. I don't remember all the details because I stopped reading the fic a long time ago, too much EDGE and not enough point.

Bringing up the character's namesake again, what do you 'get' from it? Theres a lot of cultural information contained within it, for lack of a better word. Japanese culture as a whole has a strange fixation upon "Alice in Wonderland" which apparently goes back as far as the last century.

Something that could be extrapolated from the name could be Shinki and Alice's relationship, which we don't really have a lot of official material to go off of.. The author Lewis Carrol was obsessed with the real life Alice, the inspiration for the books, to a... very disturbing extent.

So how could this apply to Alice and Shinki's relationship in fanworks? Is Alice actually Shinki's child/creation or some random kid who 'fell down the rabbit hole'? Is Shinki a overbearing but good mother/stepmother/creator or an obsessed creep (to the point that Alice ran away from Makai to get away from her)?

>>17973
Yep, count me as one of those people who has nothing to say about PC-98s.

>>17973
People said the same about several touhous with little lore, and yet Satono/Mai and Nemuno produced very interesting discussions in the end, leaning precisely into the personal interpretation angle.

>>17976
Exactly!
Also, PC98 characters have the benefit of there not being all that much to know in the first place. Their in-game appearances are basically what they are, you won't even have to do a lot of reading or anything. Which is why I'm suggesting it! The barrier to entry is lower for people who may not really engage with the cast outside of a few favourites, but may still want to comment. And it's just fun! Old works are fun, th1 especially is very fun to talk and think about.

>>17895
https://x.com/richard_effendi/status/1916485833584202136

https://x.com/richard_effendi/status/1916486778783207828

https://x.com/richard_effendi/status/1916483935091257692

A couple more comments translated. Not really sure why this guy's drip-feeding like this but I suspect it has something to do with ego.

>>17950

Could be, but it's more likely that he's doing a big translation for whatever purpose and just picking out bits that make him laugh to post when he's taking a break.

>>17951
It's definitely that. A translation takes time, after all, and it's not uncommon to post WIPs.

>>17927
Yes? I didn't say it wasn't. But you're not supposed to sympathize with the master, he's cruel drunk who beats children. The boy killing him is him being repaid with the same kindness he gave onto the world, which is none. The boy then feeling terrible for what he did tried to confess, but the Tanuki covered it up since they feel bad for him.
Also the narrative clearly signals, that it's supposed to be a truthful story, if it wasn't meant to be truthful it would have been framed differently. Probably starting out with the myth having the Tanuki, only to reveal they're more underhanded or weren't involved at all and the story has a perfectly normal explanation.
Also I don't understand what the Tanuki being self serving has to do with anything here, the question that's being asked here is.
1. Do the Youkai have an interest in keeping humans alive and the human village stable?
Which I think is yes. The human village is constantly highlighted as being important to maintaining Gensokyo in its current state.
and
2. Would a Youkai help deal with problems like crime in the village?
And I think that depends on the Youkai, in Mamizou's case, I think she would if it could benefit herself and kept the village stable.
Neither of these questions take into account if the Youkai is acting in self interest or now, and I'm not really concerned with the motive. The Questions are asking if a course of action could be realistically taken, which there can be any number of motives for.

>>17928
I'm not arguing with you about anything? I'm just making a whatever comment, dude. The subject's kind of run itself out.

>>17086
I think you're thinking of Zanmu's ending where it reveals Zanmu's real goal was to take over Gensokyo, but after she found out about Reimu and recognized her as the absolute power in Gensokyo gave up on her goal.

>>17507
As I said before, it's fine if you can't. While I'm interested in what I'm interested, the simpler idea about the aftermath at the Hakurei shrine is also ok. I'm partial to a series of short notes/articles by Aya following attempts to interview the involved parties as a style and/or framing device. Though, perhaps, that might end up being more about Aya and her pushiness rather than the interview subjects (Reimu, Aunn, Marisa?, others?) themselves. Dunno what the other anon might think.

https://www.thp.moe/th/res/183417.html#183938

Kind of late, considering spring's already begun, but I feel the need to bring up the above post because it's something that's stuck in my head for years. I honestly can't get rid of the concept of Lily White automatically going from a sedate, perhaps intelligible individual to a babbling maniac upon the transition to spring. Something about it just makes me giggle endlessly like a schoolboy.

Posting this here because I don't feel it's right to necro the thread even if the board won't block me yet.

I really want >>/others/69170 back. There's not much running currently that's as fun to me. Yeah, yeah, I know, the usual barriers. Doesn't stop me from wanting.

>>17891
Mystery Celebrations author here. A huge thank you for taking the time to analyze the prose of my writing, and for rewriting the paragraph to illustrate your points. I'll definitely reserve some time to learn more about storytelling and rhetorical techniques. I think it'll be valuable knowledge for both reading and writing.
I wanted to focus on the house at the very beginning because I like to have a very good stage for whatever scene is in play. The house was going to be the main setting of my work, after all. I wanted to set the stage and the tone and hook at once. Hook? Yeah, the hook was intended to be the setting of Yukari's house itself, since its still a mystery in canon. But as others have said, thats a trapping of fanfiction - presupposing that your readers are familiar with the material.

>>17892
>But as others have said, thats a trapping of fanfiction - presupposing that your readers are familiar with the material.
My own issue with that mindset/approach is less about familiarity with material being adapted as much as a presupposition of investment by default in particular understandings/interpretations thereof. For instance, I'm not invested in, say, Alice and Marisa being friends unless a very good reason is established within the narrative; i.e., the onus is on the writer to show how that's true and why we should care, not simply tell us that's the case or take it all as a given.

My comments part three.

On Alcohol & Oceans

Sorry, I don't really get it. It's just not a very Touhou-like piece to me. Everything's so surface-level. I don't think Alice is the kind of person to waste emotions on berating herself for mis-timing the fuze on one doll, for example, considering how many she must go through a month. She care a lot about her craft, sure, but she's ambitious about it and, like, owns it in a way that I feel should indicate a more robust attitude towards setbacks. Maybe she just happens to be a sorry drunk, but that doesn't mean that any reason to be sorry is as good a reason as any other, you know? Or, like, Kokoro has personal pronoun confusion and doesn't understand what drinking is? I don't really buy it. Feels like it takes too much of a generic "artificial and/or alien plural-self ingénue" template. Murasa's depressed because she was randomly reminded of the ocean by a total stranger she wanted to fuck? It's all this superficial stuff that's way too easy to reach for, draped over characters who talk and think and act like they could be in fanfiction for any other piece of media.

It's just a bad match for me, I guess. I don't really have anything constructive to say. Maybe the same thing I said to the Ranout: Chen Buren author—try and go beyond just walking and talking and set dressing, and try to actually delve into being. Like... I can't help but compare it in my mind with Sinker, another Ichirin/Murasa piece from elsewhere on the internet. The Murasa there still kind of talks like a fanfiction character; I guess it can't be helped; but on a deeper level she doesn't think that way. Her background informs what she uniquely is and what she uniquely needs, and what happens in the story is driven by that. It's importan

Considering the entire theme of my story, it only felt fair for the contest reward to feature one last Satori fakeout.

But in all seriousness, thanks for being our artist, Kosu. The art you've provided for R/R and USiL both has been fantastic, and as I had no particular ideas on a Mystia story myself, I decided to outsource the problem. And, as per usual, Gooboi's done a terrific job with it - the misadventures of little tiger Mystia were a joy to both read and edit.

And with that... thanks to everyone who was part of the contest, thanks to Gooboi for hosting it, and I'll see you guys when I've got something else written. Until then.

>>17840
I, personally, loved it. Mystia is the sort of person to use the jeweled pagoda as a fuel source for her stove.

My one question is how Kyouko got sent to her.

I'm not crying, someone's chopping onions!

This was completely unexpected and it absolutely made my day, my whole week, everything.
I have to thank both of you, I can't find words to thank you enough, this meant a lot to me!

It's always a pleasure to draw stuff for the worlds you have gifted us, and I'm always happy to help you in any way I can.

Shit Fart Online sucked and VR is a forced meme.

Gensokyo is still not real and VR is shit.

Just realized I forgot to say what it even is, Gensokyo D20 is a Touhou D&D 3.5 conversion.