ZUN and Touhou status update

[Clarste]

Is this actually bad for WaHH specifically though? While obviously having its old editor would probably be a good thing, switching magazines doesn't seem like such a big deal other than maybe a bit of a delay while it's switching.

[cuc]

It wouldn't go too badly for WaHH in any case, because Ichijinsha wouldn't want to lose Touhou, an important source of their income.

It's more like, Ichijinsha appears to be a struggling niche publisher, dying a very drawn out death, their only salvation being another hit bigger than Kannagi, or more likely, a buyout from some big publisher like Kadokawa. And these events - veteran editor leaving, magazine being killed - are the signs.

BTW there will be another Nikenme Radio show tonight (JST 20:00, Sep 30).

[N-Forza]

I forgot to mention, as with previous volumes, there's no new FS for September, since Vol. 4 will come out in October.

I thought this wasn't coming out until December, or was that just for the special edition?

[hungrybookworm]

From then on, WaHH might move to Comic REX, becoming neighbors with Kannagi.

Uuu, my shipping fees... Febri's such a slim, light magazine...

Comic REX is monthly instead of bimonthly, right? I wonder if this'll affect the page count for each chapter.

[cuc]

I thought this wasn't coming out until December, or was that just for the special edition?

My bad, while Amazon only has an entry for the special version now, FS Vol. 4 most likely would come out in December. The September break is only presumably for extra work on Vol. 4.

Uuu, my shipping fees... Febri's such a slim, light magazine...

Comic REX is monthly instead of bimonthly, right? I wonder if this'll affect the page count for each chapter.

My feeling is Touhou is too important for Ichijinsha to dare to tell ZUN what to do. They might arrange things to accomodate WaHH somehow instead.

==============

Since I love translating them, these tweets are from yesterday and the day before:

ZUN: As the wife was taking an afternoon nap, I brought my son out for a walk together. Every time a police officer passed us by, I felt anxious.

Japan is one of the safest countries in the world. The streets of Shinjuku are a little more dangerous, so he probably moved to somewhere better for the sake of his son. There are patrolling police officers at nearly every crossroads in Japan, but most people have no need to fear them. Clearly ZUN believes himself looks like a bad guy.

ZUN: Never thought I'd be here watching a TV drama about Whiskey from early morning.

The show is "Massan", the new NHK morning drama, premiering on that day (Sep 29), based on the story of the Nikka Whiskey Company's founder and his wife.

NHK's daily morning dramas have been a staple of Japanese life for decades. I can't imagine ZUN watching those whole family shows much before - he seems to prefer TV shows about good guys overcoming adversary with their intelligence.

[cuc]

Seems in tonight's show, ZUN said he "would like to release a new game at Reitaisai" - he has the desire to do it, but can't say it with certainty now.

[Tengukami]

Whoah, do I understand it right that this would be in November? That's not a lot of time really. Unless he's been working on something, bit by bit and on and off, over the past several months or something.

[notext]

Given the existence of 14.3, I'm assuming that something has at least been in the master plan for a while, if not actually in the works. Although I'd have bet on a collaborative effort/Hopeless Masquerade expansion a new side game wouldn't surprise me. I'm not sure what it would be though - ISC kind of precludes a new Shoot the Bullet. Fairy wars-ish spinoff of Horned Hermit/Forbidden Scrollery?

[cuc]

He was referring to May 2015. He's not going to Autumn Reitaisai, at least, not as Shanghai Alice, as evidenced by its circle list.

RE: Tasofro games

Again, ZUN does not seem to consider it his business to announce them. Tasofro won't attend Autumn Reitaisai, too.

[Helepolis]

Aw yea, Reitaisai 2015 must be there for sure.

[cuc]

I have forgotten: because ZUN considers 1995 to be the year Touhou started, the next year will be the 20th anniversary of Touhou. He made PoFV for the 10th anniversary of Touhou; there's no way he wouldn't make a commemorative game for 2015 (not saying it'll be a vs. game - at the moment it is just as likely to be single player).

In today's Febri magazine, the release date of WaHH Vol. 5 has been announced to be December 27, with a book signing on the same day (details to be announced).

Surprisingly, today's WaHH story - Chapter 25 - is about as rich in lore about Touhou universe as you can imagine a WaHH chapter to be, which... Ah, we shall wait and see.

==============

Daddy ZUN tweets:

Oct 8:

ZUN: I am doing my writing job at the moment, and had my son sleep in my workshop. He kept staring at me, making me anxious. Speaking of that, it's been a really long time since I last worked in an environment where other people can see me (even if it's a baby)

Oct 14:

ZUN: Now testing: using a Touhou music box a fan gave me as a gift to calm my son

[Abraham Lincoln]

ZUN: Now testing: using a Touhou music box a fan gave me as a gift to calm my son

That sounds like a good idea! I think his son will love it.

[Tengukami]

I have forgotten: because ZUN considers 1995 to be the year Touhou started, the next year will be the 20th anniversary of Touhou. He made PoFV for the 10th anniversary of Touhou; there's no way he wouldn't make a commemorative game for 2015 (not saying it'll be a vs. game - at the moment it is just as likely to be single player).

Still - and I know this comes up a lot - it has been a while since the last Phantasmagoria game, and the 20 year mark would be a nice time to bring one in; marking two anniversaries in one and all that. He's already talked about the desire (with time/new fatherhood considered) to have a game out in May, so why not? But as you say, it's a coin toss really.

[akj]

ZUN: I am doing my writing job at the moment, and had my son sleep in my workshop. He kept staring at me, making me anxious. Speaking of that, it's been a really long time since I last worked in an environment where other people can see me (even if it's a baby)

ZUN: Now testing: using a Touhou music box a fan gave me as a gift to calm my son

These ZUNdad tweets are too cute.

[Failure McFailFace]

I have forgotten: because ZUN considers 1995 to be the year Touhou started, the next year will be the 20th anniversary of Touhou. He made PoFV for the 10th anniversary of Touhou; there's no way he wouldn't make a commemorative game for 2015 (not saying it'll be a vs. game - at the moment it is just as likely to be single player).

Maybe a .5/.6/.7/.8 game at December Comiket, and the demo for 15 at Reitaisai? He had a pattern going with the Phantasmagorias (Phantasmagorias on odd multiples of 3).

[Romantique Tp]

That was pure coincidence. ZUN didn't even want to release a game the year PoFV came out.

[Dizzy H. "Muffin" Muffin]

That was pure coincidence. ZUN didn't even want to release a game the year PoFV came out.

[Citation Needed]

[Romantique Tp]

http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Bohemian_Archive_in_Japanese_Red/Interview

[Gpop]

http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Bohemian_Archive_in_Japanese_Red/Interview

While I wasn't planning on making a game this year, it's Touhou's 10th anniversary so I thought really, really hard about it. A lot of people are playing the Touhou games now, so I wanted to do something that would get everyone excited... so I intended for this to be a fan-service game and make it like Twinkle Star Sprites.

It sounded more like he wanted to take a break but didn't because it was the 10th anniversary of Touhou and wanted to do something for the fans that year. So yeah there's that.

[Drake]

"Didn't want" and "didn't plan" is a pretty big difference.  Like, "I didn't plan to make one this year, but it ended up happening anyways because I wanted to make some fanservice".

That being said, the so-called "patterns" with Phantasmagorias are utterly unfounded. You can make up whatever pattern you like when you have a sample of two. Maybe the next will be TH27 because that's the next power of three??

[Clarste]

"Didn't want" and "didn't plan" is a pretty big difference.  Like, "I didn't plan to make one this year, but it ended up happening anyways because I wanted to make some fanservice".

That being said, the so-called "patterns" with Phantasmagorias are utterly unfounded. You can make up whatever pattern you like when you have a sample of two. Maybe the next will be TH27 because that's the next power of three??

Or maybe he does it on the third game after rebooting the canon, and won't do it again until after the setting is wiped out forever.

[Romantique Tp]

"Didn't want" and "didn't plan" is a pretty big difference.  Like, "I didn't plan to make one this year, but it ended up happening anyways because I wanted to make some fanservice".

In either case he originally wasn't going to release a main game in 2005 because reasons, but he changed his mind when he realized Touhou's 10th anniversary was coming. I don't see what the big difference is, but then again english isn't my primary language.

[Firestorm29]

Saying he didn't want to make PoFV makes it sound as if ZUN was being forced into making a game rather than seeing Touhou 10th anniversary and deciding to do something special without thinking about it in advance.

[Romantique Tp]

I see that now. I didn't mean to imply that ZUN had any negative feelings towards PoFV. Sorry.

[Firestorm29]

I wouldn't worry about it, English has quite a few nuances like that which you might not notice at first. ^^;

[cuc]

Tonight's (October 28) Nikenme Radio stream will be about "Winter Comiket progress report". This might attract more listeners than usual...

EDIT:
Even Okonogi himself acknowledged today's show as a failure lol. The signal at the restaraunt stayed terrible to the end. While there were three guests - Heppoko, D.N.A. and tbn (who often helps ZUN manage booths at conventions), they talked about almost anything other than Winter Comiket.

It seems from now on ZUN will be the owner of the show. He'll be paying for their food out of his own pocket.

According to Touhou Memory, at least we are left with two ZUN-quotes this time (sorry for bad translation):

"I have always lived a happy life. I wish I can live happily when I become old. For this reason, I must keep being happy, keep working hard, even now."

"Life is a game... a real game... real... game of escape..."

(Source: 1, 2)

Meanwhile, have you ever read the who's who guide in the OP post?

[cuc]

The Comiket 87 catalog has just been revealed. ZUN will not be attending, but Twilight Frontier will.

One common practice at doujin conventions is for one circle to register using two different names in two neighboring booth spaces. This would allow them to have a double-sized booth. For Tasofro, this second shadow booth is 乙カレー本舗 "OtsuKARE Honpo".





Looks like they will release another Touhou game this time. Twilight Frontier has yet to say what their C87 project is, but they reminded us they'll also show up at Nov 16's Digital Game Expo.

There's still enough time for them to announce their new title.

[Helepolis]

ZUN is withdrawing himself again like he did previously, shutting himself in some rural area with lots of snow.

[Leon゠Helsing]

The Comiket 87 catalog has just been revealed. ZUN will not be attending, but Twilight Frontier will.

One common practice at doujin conventions is for one circle to register using two different names in two neighboring booth spaces. This would allow them to have a double-sized booth. For Tasofro, this second shadow booth is 乙カレー本舗 "OtsuKARE Honpo".





Looks like they will release another Touhou game this time. Twilight Frontier has yet to say what their C87 project is, but they reminded us they'll also show up at Nov 16's Digital Game Expo.

There's still enough time for them to announce their new title.

I really hope it's HM's expansion, but realistically it might still be too early for that.

[cuc]

It's not a big all-new fighting game, that's for sure.

Re: ZUN, well yesterday he just went to the Izu hot spring resort. He's probably chatting with fellow geeks and drinking beer as we speak.