Miscellaneous Questions Thread 4 - Bring us your Questions!

[Tengukami]

People do inexplicable things all the time. I went to the library yesterday, just cuz I could. It happens. There doesn't need to be a good or logical reason to go someplace.

[Tiamat]

Well, at least the fact that Yuugi has an actual storyline role (even if a small one) shows that some thought was put into her background appearance, as well as an acknowledgement that her appearance is canon.  The fact that Yuugi's background appearance is confirmed to be meant to be an actual canon storyline appearance would imply it's the same for the other characters, too, I think.  And pooooossibly maybe slightly imply on a lesser amount that it's the same for the stages (Mainly applicable for the Myouren/Palanquin Ship thing).

[Clarste]

It's a festival. That's... basically the entire explanation.

[Prime32]

Well, at least the fact that Yuugi has an actual storyline role (even if a small one) shows that some thought was put into her background appearance, as well as an acknowledgement that her appearance is canon.

Probably related to her appearance in Wild and Horned Hermit.

[snowflake247]

Does anyone know where ZUN gets the patterns he uses in the spell card backgrounds, STG Frames, cover art, etc.? Or does he make them himself?

[Drake]

They're basically all from specialized texture packs for professional use. They're expensive.

Example:

[Starxsword]

However, it was already springtime by the beginning of PCB, so Lily went ahead to announce the time, regardless of the weather. She is more like a calendar rather than a weather vane, let alone the very cause of spring.

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't Lily White fairly close to the Netherworld?

What I am saying is not that Lily White only appears in spring time. What I mean is that Lily White's presence is what causes spring. So, I am saying that if Lily White doesn't pass this specific area, Spring never comes to this area. This was heavily implied in the 3 fairies manga.

ZUN wasn't working on HM alone. There are at least a few things that go against the canon in that game, such as the ability to select the stage of Palanquin Ship or the Temple of Myouren, despite the former becoming the latter after UFO. Another one would be the Chireiden stage, despite the fact that surface-dwelling youkai aren't allowed to enter the underground.

I agree with Sagus on this. Even if he doesn't work alone, he does make sure that character appearances are logical.
Random appearances of characters in places happen, because well, characters move around. It should not be surprising.

One example is Flandre. I don't believe you ever see her appearance outside the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Unlike other random characters like Rumia, Yuuka, etc. that show up in various places.

I just don't see what logical reason would bring Yuugi to Human Village or Yuuka and Medicine to the Hall of Dreams Mausoleum.  In any case, to set the topic back on track, no, I don't think the fairies should be the ones painting the leaves in autumn.

As for Yuuka and Medicine, why can't they be in the Hall of Dreams Mausoleum, any specific reason why they are banned from going to places?

[TrueShadow]

The Mausoleum is interestingly the gathering place for the "faction-less" characters. It's almost like a dump when the devs can't think of anywhere else to put them :V

[Fonzi]

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't Lily White fairly close to the Netherworld?

What I am saying is not that Lily White only appears in spring time. What I mean is that Lily White's presence is what causes spring. So, I am saying that if Lily White doesn't pass this specific area, Spring never comes to this area. This was heavily implied in the 3 fairies manga.

She was still outside of Netherworld, but I don't know what does that have to do with the fact that she announces spring when the time comes. I haven't really read the whole 3 fairies manga, so I can't really argue with you about it.

I agree with Sagus on this. Even if he doesn't work alone, he does make sure that character appearances are logical.
Random appearances of characters in places happen, because well, characters move around. It should not be surprising.

One example is Flandre. I don't believe you ever see her appearance outside the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Unlike other random characters like Rumia, Yuuka, etc. that show up in various places.

I just wonder what makes all of you people so sure ZUN keeps perfect track of every single detail about his characters when he's under the pressure of a deadline and the key point is to make the playable characters to be working properly before the release date.  It's much easier to keep track of what one or two manga artists draw than what a whole team of developers decide to put into a game. The background characters are there just as a decoration, and in some cases the stages they appear at don't quite fit with them, even when it's a festival. Sure, the audience is important in the game, corresponding with the popularity meter, but some characters feel like they were just randomly put to a random place just for the sake of being there. Yuuka and Medicine are both pretty introverted and rarely ever move away from their area of activity or care about anyone but themselves. As TrueShadow put it, it's like they were just dumped there.
Oh, and Fladre did appear outside her mansion in BAiJR and Aya interviewed her, but that's the only occasion I know of.

[Tengukami]

I think characters being in the crowd is a non-issue. Random folks check out new stuff for no 'logical' reason, film at 11.

[Fonzi]

Well then allow me to update my list of questions for ZUN...

[CyberAngel]

Speaking of which, some questions are due for a few stages themselves, namely Treasure Ship and Hall of Dreams' Great Mausoleum. For the former, it's whether it's the same thing as Myouren Temple (I'd rather believe it's something created from Soaring Vault's fragments). For the latter, it's where it's actually located now (no way in Higan am I believing that an underground cave can have a bright sky-like background and a huge lake with vegetation, over it just being moved to the surface). Those are just my theories, though, and I'd rather wait for some kind of an interview purely about HM.

[TwilightsCall]

I noticed this on the wiki article for Celestials:

According to Komachi Onozuka, celestials are not truly immortal. Instead, they manage to defeat the shinigami that comes to collect their souls on a routine basis, continually extending their lifespan.

If Shinigami, supposedly, don't collect souls of the dead and are just responsible for ferrying them across the Sanzu, what's this about?  I wasn't able to find a source for this (the quoted) statement, and that has me double-wondering as to its accuracy.  Especially since Komachi is the one from whom we heard that Shinigami don't collect souls!

[CyberAngel]

The source of that statement is Komachi's SWR story, namely her dialogue with Tenshi. Note that WaHH didn't exist back then.

[Clarste]

Also note that in WAHH she says that they normally lie about it.

[Starxsword]

She was still outside of Netherworld, but I don't know what does that have to do with the fact that she announces spring when the time comes. I haven't really read the whole 3 fairies manga, so I can't really argue with you about it.

In either case, if you want the reference, here is the link. Chapter 7 starts the series about Spring and ends in Chapter 8. So, you only really need 2 chapters.
http://www.mangago.com/read-manga/touhou_sangetsusei_strange_and_bright_nature/tr/86004/page/129/

I just wonder what makes all of you people so sure ZUN keeps perfect track of every single detail about his characters when he's under the pressure of a deadline and the key point is to make the playable characters to be working properly before the release date.

What do you mean by this? It is just more likely that Zun would keep track. He has meetings with Tasofro plenty often during the production of the game.
How are you so sure that those characters are nonsensical in their appearance? Why assume so?

Yuuka and Medicine are both pretty introverted and rarely ever move away from their area of activity or care about anyone but themselves. As TrueShadow put it, it's like they were just dumped there.

Why and how did Yuuka appear in Wild and Horned Hermit, if you were to assume she never moves?
http://www.mangago.com/read-manga/touhou_ibarakasen_wild_and_horned_hermit/mf/v04/c016/7/

Oh, and Fladre did appear outside her mansion in BAiJR and Aya interviewed her, but that's the only occasion I know of.

How would you know that Flandre appears outside of the Scarlet Devil mansion during the interview? Is there anything during that interview that somehow hints that?

[Tiamat]

Small miscellaneous.  Yuuka visits the flower shop in the human village and Reimu's shrine in her PoFV ending. Perfect Memento says she doesn't leave her sunflower field very much, but it dosen't say she NEVER leaves it.

Flandre is outside the Scarlet Devil Mansion in the accompanying artwork to that BAiJR interview (though still on mansion grounds).

[Biakmon]

- Any picture(s) of a real 3d Yin-Yang Orb (can be crystal, etc.) out there on the internet?

I can't find a proper real one that has the have appearance like the one in the game. The only I can find are flat one and no spherical in shape.
Oh the white part does not necessarily have to be white in color, it can be transparent.

How many bands are there out there in Gensokyo now (3-4) and what their genre? I think for the Prismriver Sisters its rock or something like that.

[CyberAngel]

How many bands are there out there in Gensokyo now (3-4) and what their genre? I think for the Prismriver Sisters its rock or something like that.

There are only two groups that could be described as "music bands" as of now - Primsriver sisters and Kyouko/Mystia, though it's unknown if the latter is a regular thing. The genre is given only in the latter case, which is "punk".

[チソウ タイゼン]

So far, all I've seen is this of Kobito of the Shining Needle Castle, and Desire Drive.

I was wondering if there was any more music from Touhou post-PC-98 that was remixed to sound as if it were PC-98 :3

[Quwanti]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BUDTv_EhHw The Gensokyo the Gods Loved
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqPT7bycS6g Grave of Being
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiC9gD0k1dQ Far Side of the Moon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTCkrE0bGKA Sunny Rutile Flection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqm_kU4M9WU Native Faith
And http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfIZI4wBACI Hartmann's Youkai Girl

There might be more, but these ones I thought of instantly.

[snowflake247]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgkehYFrcho Satori Maiden ~ 3rd Eye
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0RKWrCzEKU U.N. Owen Was Her
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-DqeZJYuiU Faith is for the Transient People
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVUMFM4vBB4 Border of Life

[ismellnumbers]

I'll try to describe it as much as I can. I found it originally on youtube and it was deleted. (should have saved the song I know)

The name was something along the lines of "Witches ball" and it had a picture of remilia scarlet. I've looked all over youtube for hours and I can't find it. it isn't the original song, it's some different arrangement.

The song has some slow ominous piano in the beginning, followed by deep cello and church bells. The ending is a creepy rendition of twinkle twinkle little star. It isn't a fast techno song, it's purely slow and instrumental


Help is appreciated!

[Imosa]

- Any picture(s) of a real 3d Yin-Yang Orb (can be crystal, etc.) out there on the internet?

I can't find a proper real one that has the have appearance like the one in the game. The only I can find are flat one and no spherical in shape.
Oh the white part does not necessarily have to be white in color, it can be transparent.

It sounds like, you're looking for a generalization of the yin-yang into 3 dimensions. I have yet to come across one, but I've thought about it. What I see a lot of the time is just a graphic pasted onto a sphere and that just isn't what I'm looking for. I imagine there have been a lot of moments where someone set out to make a 3d yin yang and realized this just isn't that easy.
So I went on a wild picture search which led to some interesting finds. I'll share them now starting with the simplest.
This one was what I set out to find (although very small). I've seen this picture so often I now wonder, has this animation been rendered multiple times or are they all just copies of the original gif file. I want to meet the guy who made this gif. I don't think the yin yang orb looks like this but it's pretty cool.
Then I found this higher order version with 3 parts instead of 2. Very cool. I would be very happy with this interpretation of the yin yang orb.
Still both of these are so mechanical, they don't quite fit the bill for me.

This page has some interesting ideas and yielded the best return on my time investment (that's an obnoxious texture, btw. I might try to remake this since it is really cool).

This page has a poorly drawn wire frame that looks yin yang ish. I'm still working on it. I'm also loving the new age vibe I'm getting from this site, somewhere around when I read "This next picture is a graphical representation of the spheres mirroring to become the 108 as Justin discusses. It also show the Phi symbol. Coincidence? I think not.".

I like this subject. I think I want to write more on it. I've got a personal interpretation that I like as well.

[Zil]

I feel like a baseball design would work pretty well.

[Imosa]

I feel like a baseball design would work pretty well.

Until you look at it from the wrong angle. Then it just stops being what you want. That's like saying this foundational concept of yin and yang is subject to our opinions and a simple rotation of 90 degrees reveals the universe is actually just yang.
Something tells me this really isn't the kind of question that should be asked in this thread, mainly because it's so opinion based.

[Zil]

Until you look at it from the wrong angle. Then it just stops being what you want.

In a sense. Technically the surface of the ball is still half yin and half yang. Perhaps the eyes are not the appropriate tools for appreciating a three dimensional object of such significance!

[MaJO]

So I need to write a biography of someone in the career path I want.  So, me being me, I chose ZUN. So far the only good English sources I've found are touhou wiki and wiki wiki.  So now I ask you wonderful people if you know of any other good sources of information on ZUN short of the man himself, preferably in english though I can do japanese.

[Biakmon]

I hope you don't mind if I ask another questions b4 someone answer those Chocolate. Please don't use Koishi power on me.

Something I haven't quite understand about Sakuya.

- Have it been stated that she can actually reverse the flow of time OR just been heavily implied that she can do it (although very difficult it may seems to be)?

- Also for that matter can we really say that she does stop time or just decelerate to such pt that time itself practically stand still? (srry if I have offence any scientist here with my non-sense)


- Did Alice ever use her grimoire in the PC-98 game?
- And finally any particular idea why Momiji is scene in so much doujinshi with Aya and befriend with her while acting like she her puppy?

[Sagus]

- Have it been stated that she can actually reverse the flow of time OR just been heavily implied that she can do it (although very difficult it may seems to be)?

- Also for that matter can we really say that she does stop time or just decelerate to such pt that time itself practically stand still? (srry if I have offence any scientist here with my non-sense)

- It's stated in PMiSS that she can do it, but only to the extent of moving things back to where they were before; "reversing" time can't, for instance, unbreak a broken cup or unburn a burnt house.

- It's explicitly stated that she stops time. I don't see the relevance in diferentiating one from the other, anyway. The effect would be the same, after all.

Isn't the power to stop time to such a degree can be consider in a sense like a godlike power. Even if her power is limited by various factors (range, duration, etc.) if she has the time in a duel to place all those knifes around you then imagine what can she do in a real fight! She could technically just cut your head without you even realizing you have been already game, isn't it lol. Well anyway, I can imagine that the powerful youkai and our honorable lazy shrine maiden most likely have a way to counter such power.

This would get us into powerlevel discussions, so we best not dwell on it.

- Did Alice ever use her grimoire in the PC-98 game?

Yes, when she was the Extra Boss in MS. Well, the book she was carrying is open there, anyway.

- And finally any particular idea why Momiji is scene in so much doujinshi with Aya and befriend with her while acting like she her puppy?

Her species has a canid's name in it, she's the midboss of Aya's stage, and she's said to be very dutiful. Also, it was only years after her debut that the fact that Aya and Momiji dislike each other was revealed.

Also, it's cute. You know how much this fandom loves moe stuff.