Characters that just made you go 'Lol' at first sight.

[Gpop]

Sakuya in EoSD.

Must've been ZUN's all-time high in alcohol consumption at that time.

[shadowbringer]

- Utsuho, because of some patterns that reminded me of Ms. Garra (from ESP Ra.De)
- Yugi, because of her last midboss pattern (which remind me of Larsa, from Mushihimesama Futari)
- Yamame, because of her dress and hairdo (I felt like, "okay, I get it, she's spider-themed, right?")
- Satori, because of her tiny arms (and later, because of her "dancing" sprite)
- Murasa, because of her tiny hat (and perhaps because she could be seen as a Chiyuri replacement)
- Nue, because of her childish clothes and appearance :p (haven't cared much for her wings, initially thought that she looked like Flandre, not that she was her successor.. and thus haven't associated her with the mythological Nue, even though I've heard this name before)
- Suwako, because of her hat and frog theme, too
- Sanae, for using shots from Bornnam and Miyamoto (both are characters from the Mahou Daisakusen series) in UFO
- Komachi, because of her scythe. I thought.. "that scythe, what happened to it? Is it still working? xD"
- Alice in PCB, because of her spinning sprite (when I think of Alice, I don't think of this as one of her characteristics :p)

[Kilgamayan]

Catfish for obvious reasons.

Shou and Nue because they looked like guys. Still do but fanart has been working to rectify that.

[Bias Bus]

I laughed at Luize after I mistook her for a prototype Yukari. The laughter was directed at myself, because I was an idiot of the highest degree for ever mistaking the two as the same.

Also Ice-Antlers (I don't care if she isn't a character, I still laughed at it, and that's all that counts).

[Slowpoke]

Oh yeah, I laughed at Shou, particularly her hair. I know it was intended to go with the tiger theme, but it makes her look like an 80s raver.

[Mima-sama]

When I first saw Unzan I had no forewarning. I could not stop laughing, especially considering thsi was during the prime of the Brofist.

Sakuya's EoSD face made me laugh nervously at how horribly disfigured she looks.

Ran's swastika spellcard was a definite "lol".

For some reason the "cheeto" homing lasers from Mystic Square gave me a good chuckle but I guess those don't count as a character.

The inanimate bosses in SoEW made me think I was playing contra with Touhous.

[Kuma]

I could have sworn Shou was a dude.
Toramaru is a guy's name.

[wailofthebanshee]

The only character that even really got close to that kind of reaction from me was, um, Yuyuko.  The first time I saw her, I found myself questioning whether she actually was the final boss or not.  I mean, her artwork hardly makes her look threatening.  Like, at all.  Seriously, look at it:
Does this look like a final boss?  All poofy blue nightdress and pink hair and Dreamcast logo hat?

Of course, then you actually see what she can do and you get more of a "HOLY CRAP!" reaction from her.  The butterflies... DEAR GOD THE BUTTERFLIES!

I didn't think any of the others really looked like final bosses either save for utsuho.
I guess it really takes for the boss to be planet-sized to really look like a final boss :V

Also,

[Bias Bus]

I didn't think any of the others really looked like final bosses either save for utsuho.
I guess it really takes for the boss to be planet-sized to really look like a final boss :V

I'd like to think that Touhou's rather infamous for this sorta thing. Half of the final/EX bosses don't even look remotely threatening save for a few (Evil Eye Sigma is the most imposing, imo)

[Nobu]

I could have sworn Shou was a dude.
Toramaru is a guy's name.

If Shou was a dude, he'd easily be 3x popular than normal, from all the people going "ZOMG first guy as a Touhou boss" followed by an explosion of fan content.

Of course, ZUN could just be playing a trick on us by not specifying guy or girl, then saying half the cast were guys all this time. o_o

[nacho]

When I met Ran, at first I lol'd pretty hard at her pyjama and went "D'awwww" when she started spinning for no reason afterwards. Now that I think about it, it should've rather went the other way around I suppose.

Kanako when she took out her pillars... horns... whatever the hell those are.
"Wha...? Ahahahaha OH SHI- *bomb"

Yuugi because she gives me a surprisingly GAR impression. If it would've not been for the fact that I actually mistook "him" for a unicorn at first.

Yuyuko was a mixture of amusement and disappointment at the same time. I just came from EoSD, and Remilia kicked huge ass for a final boss, being a vampire and shit. And then I saw Yuyuko right after the Youmu fight and went duhhhh. I was expecting some kind of reaper or something.
"What, that's it? Another ghost? Of a console?"

Surprisingly, I did not lol at Okuu's spellcard alert. It rather scared the crap out of me since I was on my last life when I first saw it. I had huge respect for that.

[PostCrisisJ2]

Perhaps I was just used most anime character designs by the time I got into Touhou, but I never really found the designs of any of the girls particularly strange. The artwork on the other hand...

However, I think Ran is the one that comes close due to her tails. Then Satori would probably come second, because out of all the things I've seen in Touhou so far, I thought that fighting a boss that wears slippers was odd.

[Nobu]

of all the things I've seen in Touhou so far, I thought that fighting a boss that wears slippers was odd.

This. Too funny.

[Rikter]

Youmu made me lol the first time I saw her discription as Half Ghost Half Human.

I now claim she stalks herself...

[Sana]

...I didn't even notice Satori's slippers.
I think she just skyrocketed up my favourite character list.

[Seiryuu]

Like a few others, I too, thought that Shou was the first guy in Touhou.

Then I remembered that there are no guys in Gensokyo (Rinnosuke's too effeminate).

[Toasty]

Chen, with her spinning....

And sakuya's face in EoSD.

Let's not forget suika in 12.3......look at her image in the character select screen. No, no, the smaller one. That got more a "what the!?" reaction out of me once i thought on it.

PS: All of ZUN's drawings make me lol, but these take the cake.
PPS: I know that suika was not ZUN's work.

[Nine West]

PPS: I know that suika was not ZUN's work.

Objection!

[Pako]

Well then here goes my list.

-EOSD.
  Sakuya: her smiling face is just creepy.
  Flandre: the wings, just the wings.
-IN
  Wriggle, oh look a male character.
  Tewi: her sprite seems weird to me.
-MOF.
  Kanako: the hair.
  Suwako: the hat.
-SA
  Satori: obvious reasons.
  Orin: she has cat and human ears.
-UFO
  Kogasa: the umbrella is beautiful.
  Unzan: brofist.
  Nue: totally unexpected character design.

As a bonus: Genji.

[Grand Octopus]

I stopped laughing after her stage 5 midboss card raped me sideways.

Also,

This as well.

[Bananamatic]

Oh yeah, I laughed at Shou, particularly her hair. I know it was intended to go with the tiger theme, but it makes her look like an 80s raver.

When I've seen Shou for the first time, I thought she was an amazon, not a tiger youkai >.>

[Tenbatsu! Myon Rabbie]

Kanako's hair
Jesus christ.. thank god for fanart.

[Kanako Yasaka]

The ZUNart Kanako is a horrific abomination that should never be spoken of, ever.

Also, Suika. >_>;

[Slaves]

The ZUNart Kanako is a horrific abomination that should never be spoken of, ever.

Also, Suika. >_>;

she honestly doesn't look too bad in the UFO endings

but that's probably because she's not colored

[Alfred F. Jones]

The ZUNart Kanako is a horrific abomination that should never be spoken of, ever.

[size=9]MOUNTAIN

OF

HAIR[/size]

[Moerin]

Aw, I like Kanako's eighties hair for some reason~

[Desert]

Tewi's Last Word portrait in IN. Everytime I look at it...

Also, what I'm assuming to be Rika's sprite in SoEW. I swear, the first time I saw it, I thought it was Dracula.

Also, I have an aunt who used to have hair similar to Kanoko's... Great, now I can't unsee it.

[Alfred F. Jones]

Also, what I'm assuming to be Rika's sprite in SoEW. I swear, the first time I saw it, I thought it was Dracula.

Rika is a Freemason. Seriously.

Also, unless you've played the PCB Demo, you have not seen Sakuya's best portrait. It will put her EoSD portrait to shame in ridiculousness:

[Cadmas]

Those hands. Tewi's and Sakuya's.  ◎.◎

[Von Stein]

Also, unless you've played the PCB Demo, you have not seen Sakuya's best portrait. It will put her EoSD portrait to shame in ridiculousness:

...
...
That left hand looks...
...
OWCH!