Are you serious? ZUN's games are rife with Japanese mythology. The dude hangs out with historians of ancient Japan for fun. He's even talked in interviews about the Japanese-ness of his games. It's odd at best to hope or expect more Westernization in Touhou based on a few characters and the fact that he's flying to the US.
Oh, I didn't say "ZUN being Japanese doesn't necessarily indicate the presence of eastern creatures"; of course it does and eastern mythology has dominated the series by a longshot. What I inferred from Lavalake's remark is that ZUN being Japanese means that there is no place for western creatures in Touhou, and I think that's simply wrong. Maybe I was a bit rash there because upon rereading, s/he seems to be referring to the "all-western DDC" approach. If I misunderstood something here, sorry 'bout that.
Anyway, Sekibanki isn't a western character - she's a rokurokubi according to her profile -, but she's definitely a
reference to western (and of course, eastern) mythology considering both her theme song and one of her spellcards have "dullahan" in her title. Likewise, the cover girl could very well be an eastern creature (as in, an issun-boshi), but she could also be a
reference to western stories (gnomes, Thumbelina, you name them). I'm not saying ZUN is going to make all characters western, oh no, but based on this (perceived) pattern, it's very possible he's going to sneak in western references for each character. And it fits in very nicely with the Double Dealing theme. Also, ZUN's visit to the USA being related was just a small theory of mine, and hey, the timing
is rather nice for that, but I'm not going to place any bets on that.
(on a side note, blurring the line between rokurokubi, nukekubi and dullahan for Sekibanki seems very much intentional and typical of ZUN because he loooves leaving things open-ended)
Sir Amat, you seem incredulous at the idea that the Western Touhou Fanbase has unrealistic expectations founded in unwarranted self-importance and reacts in a strong negative manner when those expectatiions are not met. How long have you been posting on this forum again?
Was this remark referring to me? I'm not
expecting anything, I'm just speculating based on the title of the game and a pattern 3/3 newcomers in the game fit into (and now a fourth one that has potential to fit in as well). At the very least, this speculation is not
completely unfounded, and it's definitely
possible ZUN will pull something like that.