Author Topic: ZUN and Touhou Status 2 (Read 139722 times)

N-Forza · « **Reply #120 on:** February 17, 2015, 03:06:56 PM »

That was also playable at the event, just across from the PC-98 Touhou machine.

monhan · « **Reply #121 on:** February 18, 2015, 03:48:33 AM »

So the anniversary will be around the time of Comiket 88. I don't mind if he postponed the possible release of ULiL to that event with whatever he has in store later, just to make it as big as possible.(also so I won't get too distracted to it on May :v)

When will we get an archeologist Touhou, I wonder.

akj · « **Reply #122 on:** February 18, 2015, 05:06:03 AM »

Coming soon to universities near you:
Major in Touhou Studies
PhD in Touhou Studies

cuc · « **Reply #123 on:** February 18, 2015, 08:06:23 AM »

Happy Chinese new year, folks!

Before joking about breaking into the academia, you can look at things from the plain old perspective of preserving history lol. Did you know, even the US release date of a game as immensely popular and important as Super Mario Bros. may have already been forgotten?

Another NicoNico-related activity ZUN did (and he took it quite seriously) was judging for his namesake award in the website's 4th Self-made Game Festival.

He gave his ZUN Award to the game "Ato no Ato" (which seems to translate to Ato's Footprints). It's an escort-based action game, where your gargoyle-looking character must protect a girl who is following your footsteps. ZUN praised the game prototype for the developer's attention to detail and down-to-earth attitude.

aListers · « **Reply #124 on:** February 18, 2015, 08:28:00 AM »

Touhou is almost a month older than I am. I'm not used to that anymore - there is a little bit of nostalgia about something so important to me being so old.

game2011 · « **Reply #125 on:** February 18, 2015, 10:19:32 AM »

Quote from: cuc on February 18, 2015, 08:06:23 AM

Happy Chinese new year, folks!

Before joking about breaking into the academia, you can look at things from the plain old perspective of preserving history lol. Did you know, even the US release date of a game as immensely popular and important as Super Mario Bros. may have already been forgotten?

SMB's release date in America isn't October 18?
www.mariowiki.com/Super_Mario_Bros.

And Happy Chinese New Year to you too!

cuc · « **Reply #126 on:** February 18, 2015, 02:31:13 PM »

Quote from: game2011 on February 18, 2015, 10:19:32 AM

SMB's release date in America isn't October 18?
www.mariowiki.com/Super_Mario_Bros.

And Happy Chinese New Year to you too!

While it takes a long time to get to the point, if you skim through the article I linked, you'll see that the accuracy of Nintendo's official date (Oct 18) is far from proven. I used it as an example of outstanding work in game history investigation.

In more NicoNico news, the ZUN Beer booth will continue with the 2015 NicoNico Super Conference (Mar 25).
http://www.chokaigi.jp/2015/booth/cho_zunbeer.html

Last year, he used the beer booth as an opportunity to express his interest in the indie game movement. I bet this year's beer will have something to do with fatherhood.

cuc · « **Reply #127 on:** February 25, 2015, 01:56:49 PM »

Online registration for Taiwan Reitaisai has began. It's at a much smaller scale than the main Reitaisai, but also significant cheaper to attend!
http://reitaisai.com/rtstw/

ZUN's next Nikenme Radio stream will start at 8 PM, Feb 27.

cuc · « **Reply #128 on:** February 27, 2015, 02:43:59 PM »

Some tidbits from today's Nikenme stream:

- Touhou's 20 year anniversary also marks the 20th year since ZUN left his hometown to live in the greater Tokyo region (first as a college student, than as a working man.) Touhou is of drinking age now.

- Okonogi brings up a fan letter from a girl in fifth grade received by Ichijinsha (in recent years there have been quite a few fan letters from little kids for ZUN). ZUN: "So in ten years, she'll start making Touhou fan works? That's scary!" (laughter)

- They opened a box of "Houraisen Kaguya" (蓬莱泉輝夜). This is a limited edition sake featuring TOKIAME's artwork, produced by Suimusou (萃夢荘), an inn/restaraunt run by a Touhou fan, in collaboration with the sake brand Houraisen (蓬莱泉, "Fountain of Hourai"), sold only at Feb 23's doujin event Touhou Goudou Saiji (東方合同祭事).

It seems if you want to buy it, you'll have to line up early at next year's Goudou Saiji.

The artwork adorning the sake's box (there're actually more small artworks inside):

The bottle:

- ZUN is feeling anxious, because he will attend a daycare school's explanatory meeting, so he won't be able to drink until tomorrow. Due to his work, he will send his son to the daycare school starting this April.

- ZUN said he has been speaking too often of retirement like Miyazaki Hayao.

- Another sentiment he has been hinting at in recent years is that he doesn't like Touhou's domination of the doujin world. He would prefer there to be something that can stand against Touhou.

Today's ZUN-quote: "In the future, my new games will be leaked by my son."

akj · « **Reply #129 on:** February 27, 2015, 07:21:21 PM »

Gosh, that box art sure is pretty. I believe each bottle was sold for around 35 USD.

Quote from: cuc on February 27, 2015, 02:43:59 PM

- Another sentiment he has been hinting at in recent years is that he doesn't like Touhou's domination of the doujin world. He would prefer there to be something that can stand against Touhou.

Isn't Kancolle gaining quite a following in Comiket? Then again, since Kancolle isn't originally a doujin work, maybe that's what he was referring to. In which case, yeah, I can't think of anything else that even comes close to Touhou's popularity.

dreamzzs · « **Reply #130 on:** February 28, 2015, 10:40:50 PM »

Is ZUN retiring anytime soon?

notext · « **Reply #131 on:** March 01, 2015, 02:38:16 PM »

The joke is that he says he's going to retire every year.

cuc · « **Reply #132 on:** March 07, 2015, 03:10:17 PM »

In today's official Reitaisai stream, they announced there'll be another Autumn Reitaisai this year.

In other news, the Taiwanese organizer of Taiwan Reitaisai has opened its websites.

Their registration page:
http://gjs.tw/reitaisaiweb/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/864601610247711/

Helepolis · « **Reply #133 on:** March 15, 2015, 03:00:09 PM »

Reitaisai 12 in Tokyo announced the circle booth numbers and Hall positions. http://reitaisai.com/rts12/4157

I'm located at K36b and Forza seems located at そ08b. We're in 2 completely different sides Forza :ohdear:

cuc · « **Reply #134 on:** March 15, 2015, 03:05:52 PM »

Why didn't you request to be his neighbor then

?

Firestorm29 · « **Reply #135 on:** March 15, 2015, 03:11:25 PM »

Quote from: cuc on March 15, 2015, 03:05:52 PM

Why didn't you request to be his neighbor then ?

I thought they tended to group circles by type and have a section for the first year circles, since that was the impression I got when I was there during Reitaisai 9.

cuc · « **Reply #136 on:** March 15, 2015, 03:22:11 PM »

In addition, circles can also specify that they want to be neighbors with each other.

Helepolis · « **Reply #137 on:** March 15, 2015, 03:24:24 PM »

Quote from: cuc on March 15, 2015, 03:05:52 PM

Why didn't you request to be his neighbor then ?

I didn't actually knew whether we were going to sign up as Drill Chichikuri. It came off as a surprise for me.

I noticed also for example Barney-san was last year close to us in same row but both Forza and Barney are in the そ row. We somehow got put at K. But Ryuu-ichi is also at K34a, I am guessing they applied for double space.

cuc · « **Reply #138 on:** March 16, 2015, 02:47:47 PM »

The circles have begun to receive their Reitaisai manuals. According to the manual, this year's Autumn Reitaisai will be held on Oct 18 (Sun).

If you want to hear about the continued decline of Touhou, whatever that means, 3833 circles will attend this May's Reitaisai, of which 215 are using double-sized booths - a new rule added this year (in previous years, you must apply for two spaces in the names of two separate circles, and join the two spaces into one booth). After taking account of that, Reitaisai 12's number of booth spaces (4048) has again fallen from Reitaisai 11 (4312) by about 250.

N-Forza · « **Reply #139 on:** March 16, 2015, 03:56:03 PM »

Weird, seems like they switched order with Koromu. I guess it sort of makes sense though, given how last year it was barely a month away from Comiket which was also in Tokyo.

In any case, this will make attending M3 as well a bit tricky...

Tengukami · « **Reply #140 on:** March 16, 2015, 04:29:57 PM »

Quote from: cuc on March 16, 2015, 02:47:47 PM

If you want to hear about the continued decline of Touhou, whatever that means, 3833 circles will attend this May's Reitaisai, of which 215 are using double-sized booths - a new rule added this year (in previous years, you must apply for two spaces in the names of two separate circles, and join the two spaces into one booth). After taking account of that, Reitaisai 12's number of booth spaces (4048) has again fallen from Reitaisai 11 (4312) by about 250.

Hm. Pure speculation here, but maybe the economy is a significant factor in the drop in participation. But then, there would have to be a downward trend in doujin stuff in general for that to be the case, and I don't know how doujin stuff in general has been doing.

Firestorm29 · « **Reply #141 on:** March 16, 2015, 04:40:22 PM »

One question I have, how many of these circles had moved on the become their own thing. It could mean that many people have started their own thing rather than declining interest in Touhou.

Super Butterfly · « **Reply #142 on:** March 16, 2015, 05:02:16 PM »

Quote from: Tengukami on March 16, 2015, 04:29:57 PM

Hm. Pure speculation here, but maybe the economy is a significant factor in the drop in participation. But then, there would have to be a downward trend in doujin stuff in general for that to be the case, and I don't know how doujin stuff in general has been doing.

I doubt that. 2014 was booming for Kantai Collection but idle for Touhou. As much as I hate KanColle, I see why people are converting to the series that's constantly updated.

Romantique Tp · « **Reply #143 on:** March 16, 2015, 05:06:52 PM »

Quote from: Tengukami on March 16, 2015, 04:29:57 PM

Hm. Pure speculation here, but maybe the economy is a significant factor in the drop in participation. But then, there would have to be a downward trend in doujin stuff in general for that to be the case, and I don't know how doujin stuff in general has been doing.

Printing manga and CDs doesn't cost that much more than it used to. Some circles are just drawing porn of more straight to the point otaku bait waifu crap now, while others are getting too busy at work and/or too old.

hungrybookworm · « **Reply #144 on:** March 16, 2015, 06:07:10 PM »

I wouldn't get too worried. Touhou has definitely peaked in Japan, I think, but at this point I'd be surprised if it ever completely goes away. At least while ZUN is alive and working on Touhou. (In fact, if my twitter timeline is anything to go by, this Reitaisai is going to be packed full of Forbidden Scrollery stuff thanks to last month's chapter...)

N-Forza · « **Reply #145 on:** March 17, 2015, 05:30:26 AM »

Yeah, Reitaisai is still occupying the entirety of Big Sight's east hall, and Touhou could easily taken up more space at Comiket should its organizers allow it to.

While they don't have the influence a new game would have, the comics have been keeping things going just fine. And on the doujin side of things, while the number of events may have dropped off a bit, they seem to be more robust, featuring concerts and whatnot.

There is a definite decline as people move on for whatever reason, but the relatively young fanbase means there's a potential pool of talent there to replace them.

Romantique Tp · « **Reply #146 on:** March 17, 2015, 06:11:20 AM »

There were just way too many events back then. I remember back in 2012 there was a Touhou event (or sometimes even multiple events) almost every single week. That was insane, and honestly that would still be too much even if Touhou was mainstream. It's great to see event organizers focusing more on quality over quantity.

Helepolis · « **Reply #147 on:** March 17, 2015, 06:58:55 AM »

Artists moving on is indeed a thing and inevitable as well. Some "grow up" and quit the doujin or become less active, or they adapt to a new hype/popularity. I know that Shino for example moved from Touhou to Puella Magi and now to Kancolle. Didn't also spot his booth on the circle list so either joined forces or didn't sign up.

cuc · « **Reply #148 on:** March 17, 2015, 01:33:21 PM »

Quote from: Not Bigode on March 17, 2015, 06:11:20 AM

There were just way too many events back then. I remember back in 2012 there was a Touhou event (or sometimes even multiple events) almost every single week. That was insane, and honestly that would still be too much even if Touhou was mainstream. It's great to see event organizers focusing more on quality over quantity.

I think you already know that, but to clarify, part of the cause was that as the doujin convention process becomes highly streamlined, it had become popular for convention organizers to start multiple smaller events that are held together under one roof. These small events are nominally separate with their own websites, but in practice they are essentially different sections of the same convention. This has allowed the smaller events to diversify and have niche subjects. That's why so many doujin events have sprung up in recent years.

For example, you can see links to three other Touhou events and one doujin music event on the page for this Akyuu-themed event in Kyoto. They are all organized by one group, and held together.
http://ninth-gen-teaparty.info/

This month's Nikenme Radio will be on March 26. The topic is undetermined, but Okonogi thinks they might end up talking about Nintendo's new alliance with the mobile game developer DeNA, and about their own ages.

By the way, ZUN is feeling quite excited by Nintendo's announcement. Not because of the event itself, but because of the sense that a new era is dawning.

monhan · « **Reply #149 on:** March 17, 2015, 01:41:10 PM »

There are also cases where the circles or artists that "took an interest in something else" are scorned by rabid fans. This isn't exactly something new, and we know that some had it worse than others. Like for example, Cercis(Carcharias). Even if she'll be participating in Reitaisai 12, the general respond in some threads are telling her to "f**k off and just do your other stuff". This is related to that Doujin-goro term cuc once mentioned.

And regarding the declining amount of circles, people need to remember that Reitaisai isn't the only Touhou event there is, like Not Bigode has said. It is the biggest, but considering that even just for this year's Autumn there will be theme/characters/group-specific events such as Touhou Akatsuki(EoSD), Kisouen(Four Seasons), Suwa Fuujinsai(MoF), Bunbunmaru Tomo no Kai(Tengus), Autumn Reitaisai, Kouroumu, and the Dai ⑨-shuu. Heck, I probably missed some of them.
So I think it's not so much a decline than because they have to choose which event to attend to.

Still, if Touhou is dying in any way, I'd say that it's "dying" in the West. Because people keep saying so and it keeps spreading everywhere, thus affecting their view.

And oh, an alliance? Did I miss something?