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(added some info on the 4th wall)
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*The dialogue on Stage 3 of ''[[Story of Eastern Wonderland]]'', ''[[Lotus Land Story]]'', ''[[Mystic Square]]'' and ''[[Embodiment of Scarlet Devil]]'' trial versions explicitly state that the game is in the trial version and thus the player cannot continue.
*The dialogue on Stage 3 of ''[[Story of Eastern Wonderland]]'', ''[[Lotus Land Story]]'', ''[[Mystic Square]]'' and ''[[Embodiment of Scarlet Devil]]'' trial versions explicitly state that the game is in the trial version and thus the player cannot continue.
*[[Reimu Hakurei]] and [[Rika]] talk about Rika been a Stage 1 boss in the Extra stage of ''Story of Eastern Wonderland'', while stating that if Reimu followed Rika during Stage 1, then Reimu's battle with the Evil Eye Σ would've been Stage 2.
*[[Reimu Hakurei]] and [[Rika]] talk about Rika been a Stage 1 boss in the Extra stage of ''Story of Eastern Wonderland'', while stating that if Reimu followed Rika during Stage 1, then Reimu's battle with the Evil Eye Σ would've been Stage 2.
*[[Yuuka Kazami]]'s bad ending in ''[[Mystic Square]]''.
*[[Flandre Scarlet]] utters "I meant you can't use a continue!" to [[Marisa Kirisame]] in her scenario in ''Embodiment of Scarlet Devil'', since you can't use one during an extra stage.
*[[Flandre Scarlet]] utters "I meant you can't use a continue!" to [[Marisa Kirisame]] in her scenario in ''Embodiment of Scarlet Devil'', since you can't use one during an extra stage.
*[[Kogasa Tatara]] was seen saying "Surprise~" on the CD of ''[[Undefined Fantastic Object]]'', speaking to the owner of the CD.
*[[Kogasa Tatara]] was seen saying "Surprise~" on the CD of ''[[Undefined Fantastic Object]]'', speaking to the owner of the CD.

Revision as of 02:12, 19 April 2014

ZUN is the sole determinant of canon in the Touhou Project.

Canon refers to certain individuals who own official status of a certain work. In the Touhou Project, games, CDs and literature produced with only ZUN's involvement are considered to be official canon for the Touhouverse, since ZUN is the only sole determinant of canon in the Touhou Project. These are listed under Games, Print Works and Music on the main page. This article should give a clear description of what is canon and what isn't.

Statements by ZUN

Main article: Category:Interviews and Statements

ZUN has answered a number of fan questions in blogs, public interviews, e-mails and general conversations. While these statements should be considered canon at the time they are made, they may not be final and may be contradicted by later games or other interviews. ZUN has stated that there's secret background information for the Touhou Project he conveys only to friends, as well as information he's saving to reveal in future games.[1] This means that just because a question isn't explicitly answered by an official work or statement doesn't mean the answer doesn't exist, although obviously there's no conventional way for the general public to access these answers unless they are to chat with him.

Similar status applies to comments made by Twilight Frontier or others who've worked closely with ZUN. However, as they aren't always correct about his intentions, such statements should be taken with a grain of salt.

Canonicity and comparison between windows and PC-98

ZUN playing the fifth Touhou game Mystic Square.

Arguably, the biggest question and debate that occurs in the Touhou fanbase is if there's any connexion between the PC-98 era and the Windows era. Among the fanbase, the term "PC-98" refers to the first five games of the Touhou Project, whilst the term "Windows" refers any official material that's being created from the sixth Touhou game (Embodiment of Scarlet Devil) onwards (i.e. games, CDs, print works and excluding the first five games).

Not a lot of information has being provided from the PC-98 about the Touhou Project in general while on the other hand the Windows era clearly does. The setting of the PC-98 era is in an Eastern Country and the setting of the Windows era is in Gensokyo. Compared to Windows, the player travels through dark and gloomy places in the PC-98 such as Makai and the Dream World (which both aren't part of the same world of the Eastern Country), where the player doesn't tend to see a lot of clear world scenery as they would in the Windows era. This would be due to the 16-bit colour graphics the PC-98 holds, whereas in the windows era, the player can travel through wonderful scenery with high graphics and vigourous, yet magnificent danmaku. Additionally, it should be noted that the stories of PC-98 games aren't as serious as the stories from the Windows games, since the characters will often break the fourth wall and have unimportant conversations amongst each other.

ZUN has stated that the PC-98 games can be ignored just like derivative works.[2][1] He's stated that the Windows era is canon to Touhou and that the PC-98 isn't, where there's no relations. ZUN has said that Highly Responsive to Prayers was simply a "study project".[3] He also did state that the reason why the PC-98 characters aren't seen in Touhou any more is because he finds it weird to fit them into a story, but he's stated that he won't say they'll never show up again.[4][5] He's also stated that the older characters aren't gone and just don't get to be shown on game-screen.

Is there an actual connexion?

ZUN has admitted that there are a few connexions with the two sides of canon.[5] For instance, there's been a few hints that may show carry-overs from the PC-98 canon, such as by Alice Margatroid in Perfect Cherry Blossom and by Reimu Hakurei in Phantasmagoria of Flower View in Yuuka Kazami's scenario. The characters who have appeared in both the Windows canon and the PC-98 canon are Reimu Hakurei (with her Yin-Yang Orb), Marisa Kirisame, Alice Margatroid and Yuuka Kazami, where ZUN has affirmed that they are actually the same characters. However, they've each got significantly different appearances, personalities, and background stories that somewhat doesn't connect with the PC-98 era. Additionally, ZUN has released five music CDs within the Windows era under the name Akyu's Untouched Score that are original soundtracks from the PC-98 games, along with comments on the PC-98 music.

A possible linkage between the two is through the childhood of Marisa and Reimu. Chronologically, Curiosities of Lotus Asia Chapter 22's first half states that Marisa only started using star magic after 2001, while Marisa's strategy guide in Story of Eastern Wonderland's omake says her third attack uses star magic, although that is just one attack. However, by the time Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream takes place, many of her attacks use stars. Marisa and Reimu are indirectly referred to as "children" in Chapter 22's first half (chronologically: 2001), and Marisa is noted as a child in Lotus Land Story's manual, as well as Marisa and Reimu sharing a similar age. Although ZUN has stated he doesn't want to give specific ages to those two, the chronology from the two canons becomes more reasonable if Lotus Land Story took place much later than 1998. Additionally, Reimu's profile states that Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, which takes place on 2003/08/12, is chronologically not too far from Mystic Square.

References and carry-overs

Mima's appearance on Akyu's Untouched Score vol.4 cover.

There have been a number of references and carry-overs to the PC-98 canon within the Windows canon. The following is a list of those possibilities of references (NB: some speculation is involved):

  • Mima appeared on the cover of Akyu's Untouched Score vol.4.
  • A reference was made to Mima in Curiosities of Lotus Asia Chapter 25, where Reimu Hakurei comments that the Hakurei Shrine was once taken over by an evil spirit for its god (something that Mima, an evil spirit, did). The fact that Mima isn't mentioned by name, however, might mean it wasn't Mima.
  • ZUN mentioned in at least two interviews that Genjii is "probably living in the lake at the back of the shrine."[4][3] In Strange and Bright Nature Deity Chapter 12, when Reimu and Marisa Kirisame were talking about "glowing moss," Reimu said it would be nice to transfer it to the pond in the back of the Hakurei Shrine and Marisa responds that she could make it grow there on the turtles' backs. It's possible that one of them is Genjii out of those turtles.
  • In Perfect Cherry Blossom, Alice Margatroid has made reference to Reimu saying "Long time no see" and "At last, former friend, we meet again. Have you only brought me your life as a gift?" which could be referring to their battle in Mystic Square's third stage. When she says "your life," it could be referring to Alice's title from Mystic Square which was "Witch of Death".
  • In Phantasmagoria of Flower View, Reimu quoted "Everything went back to normal when I defeated you back then!" indicating to have had a battle with Yuuka Kazami already. It's most likely referring to their battle in Lotus Land Story. In Yuuka's article in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, Hieda no Akyuu stated that Reimu has exterminated Yuuka several times (although saying it's "probably bogus"), in which Lotus Land Story may have been one of those times.
    • On a plus note, Yuuka also makes a win quote to Marisa that she's "grown up quite a bit", since Marisa was officially known to be a child in the PC-98.
  • Reimu's theme "Maiden's Capriccio" in Lotus Land Story, as well as Marisa's theme "Love-coloured Magic" in Story of Eastern Wonderland was arranged in the game Imperishable Night. Also, the music comments for Marisa's theme "Love-colored Master Spark" stated that Marisa had five themes when the game was released, indicating that the others are from Story of Eastern Wonderland, Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream, Lotus Land Story, and the Seihou Project game Shuusou Gyoku (since Immaterial and Missing Power is chronologically before, but released after Imperishable Night).
  • An hidden quote by Reimu in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil appears in-game stating "It's been a while since my last job."
  • The Yin-Yang Orb has appeared in every game with Reimu, but it's unknown if it still has the same power as it did in the PC-98, as well as been the greatest treasure of the Hakurei Shrine.
  • In Oriental Sacred Place, a ghost similar to bakebake appears on a map that Sunny Milk was holding. It's unknown if it was meant to be a bakebake.
  • In Highly Responsive to Prayers, it was stated that the Human Village was attacked by demons. The Human Village was later shown as a stage location in Imperishable Night and again in Hopeless Masquerade.
  • Undefined Fantastic Object appears to hold a good number of references back to the PC-98 as followed:
    • Makai made its first post-PC-98 appearance this game, but on how it's even the same location is unknown. Both Reimu and Marisa appeared to be surprised when they heard Minamitsu Murasa said they were going to Makai, whereas Sanae Kochiya who appeared confused, wasn't. Also, Makai was again referenced in Symposium of Post-mysticism, providing more information.
    • Byakuren Hijiri used a spell card that strongly resembles one of Shinki's attacks, along with her Lotus Butterfly acting similar in appearance (and in two or three attack patterns) to YuugenMagan.
    • Nue Houjuu appearance as a ball of light has similarities to the extra stage midboss of Lotus Land Story; their appearances are identical, and both drop items when leaving the screen, each ending with an extra life.
    • Nazrin's reappearance as a later stage midboss resembles Louise's reappearance as a later stage midboss, both being stronger.
    • Although possibly a coincidence, Murasa's outfit bares a resemblance to Chiyuri Kitashirakawa's.
    • Marisa commonly used a wand in the PC-98, and was seen with one again in Undefined Fantastic Object, which is so far the only Windows game where she is seen with one.
  • The Hakurei Shrine was also returned to the Windows era. Due to ZUN saying that Genjii's probably living behind the shrine and that the shrine has Reimu whose the same character in both PC-98 and Windows, it's indeed the same location from the PC-98.
  • ZUN was asked if Yuki and Mai were killed in Mystic Square. ZUN stated that they didn't and recovered over time. They were also compared to Sakuya Izayoi on their species.[1]
  • Shinki appeared in the fangame Magus in Mystic Geometries, with her theme composed by ZUN. the fact that this is her official theme is debatable.

Fandom

Within the fanbase, various attempts have been made to try to link the PC-98 and Windows together, which at a lot of times the two canons seem to chronologically fit, but may also involve conspiracy theories and speculations based on canon information (such as believing that Mima is Marisa's mother). Depictions of PC-98 characters carried over to the Windows canon as if it's one big project – despite ZUN's comments on the PC-98 – is common in derivative works, along with treating "Eastern Country" being a synonym with "Gensokyo".

On the other hand, it's also common in derivative works to depict PC-98 and Windows versions of the same characters to be separate people, despite ZUN's affirmation that they are the same. It's also taken into account of viewing the two canons as having a setting in completely different worlds, landmarks or dimensions, with one example showing this is Touhou Mother.

Canonicity with other works

Seihou Project

The appearances of some Touhou Project characters in the Seihou Project are probably not canon, since there are no references to them in Touhou works, and Seihou itself isn't Touhou, and moreover these instances were merely called "guest appearances". The official ownership of the Seihou Project is the Doujin circle "Shunsatsu sare do?", who too branched away from Amusement Makers just like Team Shanghai Alice.

The guest appearances occurred before Embodiment of Scarlet Devil was released, which is when ZUN specified that everything canon was "swept clean" in order to start over. However, the accompanying story text to Reimu's theme in Shuusou Gyoku, which was included in ZUN's Dolls in Pseudo Paradise CD, mentions a girl that "doesn't look like a human or a youkai" heading to the Hakurei Shrine. This could be referring to VIVIT, who is neither of those and is a robot, heading to the shrine in Shuusou Gyoku Extra stage.

Project Blank

The official ownership of Project Blank is the Doujin circle RebRank, who too branched away from Amusement Makers just like Team Shanghai Alice and "Shunsatsu sare do?". The whole series had no involvement from ZUN whatsoever.

Two members from "Shunsatsu sare do?" (Ponchi and Yoko(blankvision)) have participated in the making of Samidare and RefRain. There appears to be some connexions between Project Blank and the Seihou Project. On the Extra Stage of Samidare, VIVIT was looking for the holy grail for her master, Erich. She said she has to find it "today". She was also looking for it on Shuusou Gyoku's Extra Stage, also stating "today" when she met Marisa Kirisame and Reimu Hakurei at the Hakurei Shrine.

Uwabami Breakers

The official ownership of the game Uwabami Breakers is The Drinking Party, in which ZUN had involvement in taking the hardest job on basing the game's engine off Mountain of Faith, composing Amakasu Barley Tenji's theme and leaving official profiles for each character. Although the game has got no canonicity towards the Touhou Project, it's got connexions.

The Twilight Bar Room is thought to be located in the Touhouverse's Outside World because of Tatsumi Hakkaisan' official profile about joining the SDF. Adding to this, it's possible Amakasu, Tatsumi and Rumi Arie knows Gensokyo's existence. Amakasu's favourite line is "You call that danmaku? That fight before was way worse, man" and the fact that all said characters used the Spell Card system that's only created for Gensokyo. It's unlikely Isami Asama also knows about it, since she doesn't use the spell card system and that as she initially goes to the Twilight Bar Room because of a story her boss told her where if you drink there until morning, you'd see "a mysterious world of curtain fire", possibly referring to Gensokyo.

Multiple playable routes

When games have multiple playable characters (PCs) advancing through the same levels, the question of which characters did what to resolve the incident becomes ambiguous. However, in in an answer to a question in 2003/12 on the former Gensou Bulletin Board, ZUN has said that when Reimu and others are defeated, they challenge again, indicating that the playable characters probably challenged again several times before finally defeating the last boss.

Many fans assume that Ending #1 in all games is what actually happened (although there's no proof to this other than the numbering), but if this is the case, then Reimu has won all of her fights except one, against Suika Ibuki in Immaterial and Missing Power. Some fanworks assume that all of the PCs participated in the incident simultaneously, but fought different enemies at various times, the main priority among fan creators usually being to support the most popular character relationships. In Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, for instance, Reimu x Remilia Scarlet, Marisa x Patchouli Knowledge and Marisa x Flandre Scarlet became the most popular pairings. Many fanmade reconstructions of the game's events therefore depict Reimu and Marisa traveling to the Scarlet Devil Mansion together, and then splitting up so that Marisa fought Patchouli, Reimu fought Remilia, and then Marisa fought Flandre sometime later in the Extra stage.

References in the dialogue and afterwords suggest that indeed all PCs set out to solve each game's incident, although in some games this is explicitly contradicted in the manual where it sometimes says, depending on which character you choose, only one goes out to investigate. Similarly, in Imperishable Night, only one youkai team and one human team are said to investigate.

In the case of Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, most of the playable characters' storylines refer to events that happened in other playable characters' storylines, making it possible to deduce the order in which they occurred, detailed in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody/Timeline/Temp (Horizontal Version).

Fourth wall

Kogasa saying "Surprise~" on the DC of Undefined Fantastic Object, an example of breaking the fourth wall.

The fourth wall is an imaginary boundary between any fictional work and its audience. When a character within the work is speaking directly to the audience or is aware that they're just a character in a fictional work means that they're "breaking the fourth wall".

In the Touhou Project, there have been instances of the fourth wall been broken. They should be considered non-canon to the work itself.

Examples include:

Doujin Games

Fanworks that are based the Touhou Project, most of which consist of art, anime, music, games etc., are completely non-canon. This includes the game Concealed the Conclusion, with its premise about the fundamental nature of Gensokyo, and the Touhou Project Side Story animated video, whose depiction of Lunarian civilization was contradicted by Silent Sinner in Blue a few months after the video's release. The fan comics included in the official fanbook Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red and the semi-official fanbook Seasonal Dream Vision should also be considered non-canon (with the exception of Extra of the Wind, which was written by ZUN), despite appearing together with some of ZUN's work.

Groups or Individuals who produce both doujin and official work

ZUN collaborates with established doujinshi circles and artists to illustrate his official print works and games. However, even if an artist or circle has worked with the Touhou Project, other works by the same circole in which ZUN did not participate are non-canon. For example, Aki★Eda is the artist for the official Touhou manga Silent Sinner in Blue, but the storylines she introduces in her self-produced doujinshi, such as the Alice x Patchouli pairing in the Plastic Heart series, shouldn't be considered canon. Twilight Frontier's had collaboration with creating four games in the Touhou Project, but other Touhou games by that circle such as New Super Marisa Land and MegaMari are also non-canon.

Also note that, despite being considered an official Touhou work, the canonicity of Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth may be somewhat debatable, both due to its slightly OTT comedic gag nature, and due to ZUN reportedly being only loosely involved in its creation. Due to the fact that some character relationships, like the one between Fujiwara no Mokou and Kaguya Houraisan, can be gleaned from Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth, it's still a good (if unreliable) source by which to gauge their relationship when compared to other doujin artists like Tohonifun. Several events in the comic were also referenced later in official works (the fast growing bamboo in Touhou Hisoutensoku's victory quotes, or Tewi Inaba's colored rabbits scam in Oriental Sacred Place, for example), although these could just be shout-outs.

According to ZUN in an interview on Nae Radio, ZUN merely gave rough instructions on "the usuals and conclusions," as well as which characters should show up, leaving the rest to the artist. In this regards, one could possibly consider the rough outline of the events to be canon, as it was ZUN himself that decided the conclusions and the characters that should appear, but it isn't absolutely conclusive.

ZUN's Contributions to Doujin Games

ZUN in the fangame Touhou Unreal Mahjong.

ZUN has also worked with Touhou fanworks, in which those that've had involvement by him ought to be taken with a grain of salt. Such occurrence could be called "fanon", where for example, ZUN had involvement in the completely unofficial Doujin game Magus in Mystic Geometries. Shinki made an unofficial appearance in the game, but ZUN composed her theme in the game (AN ORDEAL FROM GOD). This is the only thing ZUN did in this game, but whether it's an official them to Shinki is debatable. However, because it was made by ZUN, fans will generally classify it as Shinki's second theme.

This also occurs with Rinnosuke Morichika's theme (Curious Shanghai old tile) in Touhou Unreal Mahjong: ZUN also had involvement with this game and composed his theme. Rinnosuke's appearance as a playable character in the game is unofficial, but it's taken as the closes thing to be classified as his official theme. Also, ZUN also appears as a playable character in the same game, showing a image of ZUN himself, but it's unknown if it's canon or not.

Non-canon characters

These are a list of characters that shouldn't be considered canon towards the Touhou Project:

  • There are hundreds of Touhou OCs (Original Characters) scattered around the Internet, mostly often ignored. Some fan-created characters, such as those in the Danbooru listings[6], have become memes in Japanese (and in the case of Meimu, Chinese) Touhou fandom. They're popular enough to be drawn by multiple artists, but should definitely not be considered canon. See fan-made characters for more information on the most notable ones.
  • All material relating to yukkuris is non-canon.
  • The canonicity of Rin Satsuki is ambiguous: as a character whom ZUN originally intended to include in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil but then deleted before the release of the game, she's never appeared or been referred to in any canon Touhou work. She has occasionally appeared in fanworks.
  • Multi, despite appearing in Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream, should be considered non-canon since she's not a character created by ZUN.
  • Beerko so far hasn't made any connexion with the Touhou Project and thus is non-canon, despite being a creation by ZUN.
  • Fan artists may make non-canon speculations about the appearances of characters with no official artwork. For instance, many people assume that Myouren Hijiri had the same purple-to-brown gradient hair that his sister Byakuren Hijiri does, but since he was a Buddhist monk, it's more likely that his head would have been shaved.

References