Sunday, February 23, 2014

Touhou Project and the Single-Gender World

I believe that a society without gender distinctions is a powerful ideal.

Theoretically, the ideal of universal "androgyny" entails no gender.  Simply, if no one is assigned to either the male or the female category, individual expression becomes unlimited and undefined.  Anyone could express any mix of traits formerly delineated under those two categories, without being arranged into any sort of hierarchy.

...But technically, in a world of one gender  for example, a world identifying female only  you could similarly say that there are "no gender distinctions."

(fanart from pixiv.net)

The provocative premise of a single-gender society comes up quite a bit in feminist science fiction.  It also comes up in... a Japanese shoot-'em-up PC game?  Sort of!  Albeit in a completely different context, the ongoing Touhou Project series (1996-current) comes pretty darn close to being an ideal, single-gender world.

Touhou Project is a franchise of dojin (indie) games which have become phenomenally, memetically popular thanks to their gorgeous music and cute character designs.  If you haven't played a Touhou game, you've probably still heard of Bad Apple!!, or Marisa Stole the Precious Thing, or any one of twenty-million remixes of U.N. Owen Was Her?.  Touhou is everywhere.  A large part of the series's charm lies in that enormous range of derivative fanwork – and the very fact that it's so malleable and exploitable might be relevant to the topic, too  but the canon itself has plenty to explore.

Its setting, the mysterious country of Gensokyo, is a literal fantasyland that has been sealed off from reality.  It's notorious for strange incidents involving yokai (supernatural beings), and it's the home of a certain shrine maiden named Reimu Hakurei, whose duty is to resolve those incidents.  Also, it's full of girls.  Witch girls, ghost girls, fairy girls, beast girls.  Girls.  Over a hundred characters, and all girls.

Official art:  The playable cast of Touhou 09, Phantasmagoria of Flower View.

There's no explanation as to why it's full of girls.  There's no plot-related reason behind it, and there's certainly no direct social statement behind it.  The one-man creation team behind the Touhou games has said that, once the series became known for its Improbably Female Cast, it has simply felt more appropriate to maintain that image for future installments.  Men aren't explicitly banned from Gensokyo nor are they necessarily nonexistent; a few non-humanoid males have appeared in minor roles, and at least one human male appears in supplementary literature from the Touhou canon, though not in a playable game.  The games simply choose to focus on girls because... because.


Gameplay of Touhou 07, Perfect Cherry Blossom.  Can't you
see the feminist utopia behind this curtain of colorful bullets!?
As previously noted, single-gender societies make up a common motif in feminist literature.  The aim, in that context, is generally to demonstrate that women are strong and capable of self-governing.  While the magical bullet-blasting ladies of Touhou are unquestionably strong, I wouldn't say that's the agenda here.  Then, why?  While the male creator (and the heavy male majority of the audience) might seem like a red flag for perverted ogling motives at play instead, I wouldn't say that's necessarily the agenda either.  The appeal is more aesthetic than sexual... honest!  But whatever the reasons, the results are worth thinking about.  The result I find relevant is that of a bunch of characters existing in the same world without any comparative gender frame.

What's the positive significance of an all-female world?  How is it similar to an androgynous world?

1.  In this sort of world, the heteronormative element is gone, the natural inclination to romantically pair off males with females.  Unless specifically targeted to a niche audience as shonen-ai (boys'-love) or shojo-ai (girls'-love), the average show or game tends to lend itself to heterosexual pairings by default... because that's just the way it's supposed to be, right?

"WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY DON'T I MISS YOU A LOT, FOREVER?"
Well, obviously not when that "default" is removed as an option altogether.  The games themselves, far more concerned with delivering mythological backstories and fancy complex bullet patterns for players to dodge, offer virtually zero romantic or sexual subtext.  This is a rather rare case for an Improbably Female Cast, which is often implemented for the sole purpose of such fanservice.  Still, if the fans want to see characters pair up, essentially the only choice is to match girls with girls.  In the most famous of many examples, the fanmade Touhou animation Marisa Stole the Precious Thing tells the story of the titular kleptomaniac character "stealing" something, which adorably turns out to be another girl's heart.  Of course, this never really happens in the games.  But, in theory, the absolute shift away from the ingrained ideology of heterosexual naturalness is an interesting effect of a single-gender environment.

2.  In this sort of world, too, gendered stereotypes are impossible.  When every character is a girl, there is no way to look at one and assume, "This one is weak because she's a girl!"  "This one is emotional because she's a girl!"  That makes no sense.  Much like in a universally androgynous society, gender is rendered useless as a tool for descriptive identity or prescriptive assumption, and everyone instead gets characterized very individualistically.  In addition to their dialogue, which is necessarily limited by the genre, Touhou games find plenty of ways to communicate the framework of a character's personality:  through their mythological roles, through their vivid and thematically-patterned attack styles, through their expressive and intricately-composed leitmotifs.  With the framework set, all implications hinging on self-contained details rather than social stereotypes, the rest is to be enhanced by fan interpretation.

It might sound unfair to imply that other series don't develop characters in this sort of dynamic way, but in fact there are still shows and movies being made that don't satisfy the "Bechdel test" that is, the perfectly reasonable condition that a story feature at least two women, who speak to each other at least once about something other than their relation to a man.  Often, that means, a character literally will not get developed beyond "being female" in relation to a male.  Well, that's the benefit of removing gender distinction.  In a single-gender cast, that relation is irrelevant, so the Bechdel test is in the perpetual process of being aced.

...

...That's a nice metaphor for androgyny and all, but what about some actual androgyny in this review?



Of course!

Out of Touhou's many dozens of female characters, here's one named Wriggle Nightbug.  She is an androgynous little yokai with an androgynous name.  Her design is based on a firefly, and she has the ability to control other insects.  Ready to stand up for the importance of small things, she'll challenge the player as the first-stage boss in Touhou 08, Imperishable Night.  And whether you think she looks boyish or not, she was never meant to be a trap.  She is officially female, like the other 99% of the cast.  This should be a moot point.

Still...  In a universe built upon giant hairbows, colorful dresses, frills, and more frills, fans are instinctively suspicious to encounter a character in shorts and a cape.  
Perhaps the stereotypically boyish "insect" motif drives the suspicion, too.  Ironically, the androgynous aesthetic, which ought to be the most natural and inclusive, often forces a character to be the odd one out!  Ironically, the one style that renders gender least conspicuous makes gender the one thing on which viewers fixate.

Indeed, most fanwork that addresses her primarily addresses her androgyny.  Some art, in fact, even turns her into a male.  The option of gender-bending in fanwork is proof that there is some very transformative power in interpretation, to an extent that might invalidate my two points above:  As long as gender distinctions exist in this world, viewers will continue perceiving gender distinctions even in the freest of fictional worlds.

Fiction, or "fantasy," can be an interesting mirror of reality and vice versa.  Funnily enough, this particular series manages to demonstrate in both canonical and meta-canonical ways how this tendency toward dualism (fantasy versus reality, human versus nonhuman, female versus male) is a huge natural part of existence, no matter how blurry the border.  Where a norm is challenged, judgments are applied.  Then, what's needed in real-life society is to consider a deconstruction of "norms."

(fanart from deviantart.com)
Sorry, Reimu.  Those puns were uncalled for.

Using an all-female society to highlight feminine strength is one thing, but more important than "strength" in characters is individuality.  While neither gender nor lack of gender ought to hinder that, the framework of androgyny helps put things in perspective about how gender affects our views, and offers the incentive to adjust them.

...Thinking in binary male-and-female terms?  There's no need to be such a Double-Dealing Character.  It may be a Dim. Dreambut I have a Mountain of Faith in the possibility of unthinking that Natural Law.

22 comments:

  1. I don't actually know how i ended up here while i was googling something, but i must say this was a good read. I was expecting some errors and things about touhou in this article but instead it turned out to be an awesome analysis. Not to mention the last paragraph and Reimu's reaction to it =D.
    I read somewhere that all cast is female because danmaku(Bullet hell) in these games needs some sense in beauty, hence the danmaku becomes beautiful and colorful. And this sense of beauty can only be found in female characters.

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  2. Many anime\manga (and stuff inspired by their tropes) have a female characters who is written gender-neutrally, uses "boku" pronouns to refer to herself, and acts and dresses tomboyish\androgynous. Such as Crona, Hanji Zoe, or Kino from Kino's Journey. Wriggle is Touhou's version.

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  3. I am not claiming that any particular "agenda" is a direct intent of the series; I'm pretty sure I even explicitly disclaimed that in the article. However, I do think there are plenty of positive messages to gain from the concept of a world run exclusively by female characters, eliminating the need for gendered dynamics and gender-based characterization, especially when that concept is being executed in as clean and earnest a way as Touhou is.

    So, yes, it's just an analysis -- not of exactly what I think the series is "about," but of some interesting gender-related conversations I think can be extrapolated from it. Again, I don't believe there's anything being heavy-handedly pushed in the story, but I do believe that ZUN himself has rather progressive values that wouldn't completely disagree with this "shitty feminism," and these values are reflecting even more lately in recent works. I'd like you to know that I didn't choose Touhou at random to impose feminist feelings on; Touhou is literally my single biggest personal passion out of anything I wrote about on this blog. Its single-gender environment was only one aspect that attracted me to it, but it's not all there is. I was slightly less knowledgeable about Touhou when I wrote this blog as compared to now, but I wouldn't take it back; I'd actually like to write more. I missed a lot of excellent progressive things about gender I could have pointed out, like Toyosatomimi no Miko being interpretable as a transgender woman.

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  4. Hey ever heard of Rinnosuke and Fortune Teller, they're the only male that appears on this Official Series.

    Also Toyosatomimi no Miko is NOT Transgender, She's just referred as "Prince" do not Jeopardize a Saint.

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  5. Yes, I've heard of them... Fortune Teller (the only character ever who is so throwaway to the ongoing narrative as to be actually killed off) did not exist at the time of this article. But I did mention Rinnosuke (who is a more developed character, but notably does not get to participate in the main activity of the series, danmaku battles). Instead of looking at these exceptions, my entire focus is NOT on a claim that "males don't exist" but rather on the bigger picture of how Gensokyo's society functions with a single gender filling all of the important, diverse roles and interacting with each other, thus avoiding the imbalance and stereotypes created by gender inequality. I'm not saying the world would be better if males didn't exist. I'm just saying that the concept of a society without gender distinctions is interesting to think about the implications of.

    Also, I only said that Miko "can be interpreted" as transgender... which was a very conservative statement considering the canon fact that she is literally supposed to be the same person as an identified male historical figure, yet stated in a print work to have specifically chosen to change her body/appearance to suit how she felt upon reawakening. That's pretty on-point to describing "transgender." The fact that you are so quick to jump to deny things for no reason shows me the type of negative mindset you have, when there's absolutely no harm (and, in fact, there can be good meaning) in seeing things in this positive, representative way.

    If you are the same person as the original comment, I'd like to suggest that you might have a warped definition in your mind of "feminist." Maybe you've seen some extreme feminism, but feminism doesn't have to be extreme. Feminism just means believing that inequality based on gender is bad and that everyone should have rights, which is a basic, decent human thing to believe. I simply don't think a person could ever create a cast of over 100 powerful, interesting, diverse, completely non-sexualized females with meaningful interactions by being antifeminist. Incidentally, the more recent hints of ZUN's progressive mindset that I was alluding to include, for example, his care in portraying a disabled character in Okina Matara. He has actually spoken out about disliking the inequality he sees in Japanese society, and he generally sounds like an extremely fair and open-minded person.

    That said, I sincerely hope you're not as close-minded of a person as your comments imply, because it's upsetting to know that such people are a part of the fanbase of such a good-hearted series. Whether you think it's flawed or whatever, I was only trying to express a positive thought with this article, and you decided to be negative for no reason. I think you should try to make a positive impact wherever you go, rather than a negative one.

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  6. Hey Asa Turney I thought your article was very insightful I've seen this series around for years and I've been curious however I've never checked it out.
    I like series that I can imerse myself into and being male as much as I like beautiful and cute things, without a character I could relate towards I never looked at this series however It's not like I don't understand that there is potential value and love for the series and characters as it is, I know that Touhou has a very big fanbase, having a pure untainted admiration for the lore and characters of this fanfiction world, I personally respect it and I'm grateful for your insightful understanding. I'm not the type to play this series and It's unlikely that I will but I enjoyed your informative article detailing the appeal.
    I'd even enjoy hearing or reading more of your personal opinion as to characters you liked or appreciated the most or even conflicts you found compelling or your favourite interactions.
    I myself having no knowledge of the series other than the title would in no way come across this otherwise, thanks regardless if you get around to a response

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    1. Oh no... I am so sorry for overlooking this comment for an entire year. I don't suppose you have any lingering interest, but I at least wanted to respond to say that I sincerely hope you're doing well, and I hope you've found things you can relate to! And thank you very much for sharing such a nice comment!

      For the record, my personal favorite part of the Touhou series is a rather obscure side-story featuring a pair of characters called the "Secret Sealing Club." Rather than taking place in the old-fashioned fantasyland setting of Gensokyo, their story takes place in a futuristic era of our "real world," which is described as a rather negative dystopian society. This offers a stark contrast to the tone of the main series, and provides a unique perspective between reality and fantasy. The "club" consists of two girls (an excitable physicist and a dreamy psychologist) who work together to investigate supernatural secrets, including ways to get to Gensokyo itself. So they're constantly dancing on the tantalizing edge of learning the "truth" of this magical world's existence.

      Despite being explicitly disconnected from the main series, I feel that this side-story strongly encapsulates the overarching theme of "crossable boundaries," and it can be very inspiring to imagine these two modern humans encountering and conversing with mythical yokai, sometimes without even realizing it. Especially as our own real world these days grows more and more difficult, these characters become more and more relatable as people who are trying to make the best of it, to seek something more beautiful and exciting. They chase dreams, trying to turn dreams into reality.

      Many of my favorite characters are those who are directly designed to contrast each other, like these - Renko & Merry - who approach their shared goals with complementary mindsets. My second faves are a pair of 1000-year-old immortal characters - Mokou & Kaguya - one of whom is pessimistically tired of eternal life and the other of whom cheerfully jumps between hobbies to stave off the boredom. They battle each other as rivals, but find comfort in each other's company at the end of the day. I also like the relationship between the two main protagonists - Reimu & Marisa - one with natural talent and one who works hard to keep up.

      I really appreciated the way you phrased your situation, about seeking characters to relate to as a male, yet sounding very open-minded about it at the same time. That's extremely understandable.

      On brand with this blog, I'd of course insist that it would be "ideal" if any character was an option for anyone to relate to any character, with no barrier imposed by gender. Just as you say, there are plenty of qualities in characters that can be attractive or relatable to anyone. And I'm very sure you'd be able to find one, in theory... from a pool of character types ranging from silly pranksters, confident leaders, jaded workers, skilled artists, and plenty more that might lend themselves to being either relatable or role-model material.

      Even so, I know that recommending Touhou in particular is heavily biased coming from me... someone who identifies as nonbinary, physically passes as female, and is in a relationship with a woman. Gender-nonconforming, female, and gay: These are pretty much exactly the umbrellas that I feel are comfortably covered by Touhou's vibes, making me feel like it was made for someone in my mental state.

      Thus, I do understand the use and need for media representation of ALL sorts of gender expressions, not just what I'd recognize as comfortably neutral, and why some people might not end up resonating quite as strongly as I do with something. Still, it would be wonderful if you did, or found something else. If you're still reading this, please do tell if there's anything you'd like to share about what's resonated with you, either in this series or others! I'm interested in your perspective.

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  7. How is it upsetting to know that "such people" are part of this fanbase? Have you not been on the Internet enough? There will always be toxic fans of any fanbase. There's even toxic Touhou fans so basically there's no point to saying that it's upsetting

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  8. Thank you Asa Turney, you answered my questions and helped expand my own understanding and I enjoyed your response.

    I'm quite the story seeker between my sister and I, we've grown up close together and my sister often told me what she thought when she watched and seen series with only male protagonists or characters and I could she her relatability issue and then I began to expand my views to encompass shows, series, books, games and according to what she might enjoy as well.

    Over time I've found a variety of books, series, mangas, mahwas and games that I've liked with female protagonists however I'm deeply sorry if this comes out wrong, I haven't considered love or romantic situations between girls in stories. I certainly can acknowledge it and that it's normal to occur I've just haven't broadened my perspective as of yet.

    In a story I enjoy the development of feelings or character growth, building resolve to make impactful decisions that change the course of the story I also enjoy the setting and character dynamics like when two very different personalities complement each other or when feelings of being adversaries transforms to friendship or love. I've been reading novels as of late on novelcrush.com or boxnovel.com. These novels consist of korean, japanese and chinese novels and most are quite long taking 15 to 20 min to read a chapter with sometimes a much as 1000 to 2000 or more chapters some even encompass the duration of an entire characters life starting when they're young to when they reach an old age and carries a vast adventure.

    The most recent one I've read is called "Tales of herding Gods" and it's still ongoing I've felt that the story was quite compelling because of the fantasy world with mystical mytsteries and gods and demons and unknown relics with a dark history buried deep as well as the humour which relieves the dark setting. There is a harem tag on the novel but in truth I'm confused as to why it's there while the main character is a bit charming and equal parts foolish, he himself does not get involved with any of the romantic interests or particularly awakened to feelings of love or falling in love, the story has a great cast of characters that can easily take the spotlight from the protagonist both male and female.

    For the moment that's all I have right now, I hope you find something you like on there if you decide to look and I hope you'll share something you love or also like, I find your opinion and understanding refreshing and I also very much like your personality. I believe you understand and enjoy the pure and untainted love that exists in stories and no matter which story it resides, you can recognize it. I think this part of you resonates with me as well as others.

    I will definitely continue to broaden my mind to deepen my understanding to different perspectives and keep my love for stories no matter the characters or situations.

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  9. i love this blog
    Something that I have always loved about the touhou metaphor is how in many doujin media, the girls are portrayed as humans who feel, make mistakes,has ideals,feelings,tastes and dreams.
    In many media, especially current shonen anime, women are often portrayed as perfect beings who cannot go wrong and that is why they are often written as an award for the male protagonist going from being a human to just an ornament.
    women are neither better nor worse than men
    men are neither better nor worse than women
    We are all capable of many things as equal humans, we have the ability to feel and love.
    Also i love the androgenous metaphor message
    I do not know if you will be able to read this message since I am 10 years late but I just want to say thank you for this article.





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    1. I'm late to respond as well... but thank you so much for this comment. It means a lot that you would take the effort to comment even after all this time! Even now, Touhou is the most important piece of media in my life, and I continue to love and celebrate it for the diverse representation it offers among everything else. I'm so happy to see people like you supporting such positive messages of gender equality in fiction as well as reality, and being conscious enough to acknowledge the value of diversity as a human interest rather than something political. You stated the ideals perfectly!

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  10. First of all, it is incorrect to call Gensokyo a country, as it has no governance, it is a place. Second of all, Mokou also wears clothes that appear to be more appriopriate for males. Third of all, I get that you wanted to argue that the place has only one gender for no particular reason, but most likely the reason is so that there are no male-female in-universe relations, and ZUN just thought that the idea of an all female cast is appealing and fits the beautiful bullet hell battles, and maybe also the not-so-serious plot of most games. And he thinks women are pretty, he enjoys the aesthetics.

    From The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers Interview:

    "JS: There's a lot of characters in the Touhou series. One estimate I heard is there are over 150 characters. Is that true? The majority also appear to be cute girls.
    ZUN: I don't know how many characters there in the series. I've never counted. I'm fairly confident that the fans' counting of them on the internet is probably accurate. So, sure, 150 perhaps. In terms of why there are more girls in the series than men, that's definitely a conscious design decision that I made. I believe that the play style of danmaku games has a feminine aspect to it. It's not a toe-to-toe contest of strength; you don't simply run up and pummel the enemy.

    With danmaku, I'm trying to make games that are beautiful. The way the bullets move, the way the game is played, it's a visual spectacle, and I think it has beauty in it. When you think of beauty as a general thing, you tend to think of women rather than men, so it's more a case of... I think danmaku and the games I create are more about aesthetics than they are about action. Although they feature bullets, they're not about guns. Something that I think maybe people assume, is that I put a lot of girls in because it's what my fans want, but that's not the case. That has nothing to do with it. I think that putting in characters absolutely has an effect on the gameplay and on the game's design. They're not arbitrary at all, they're part of the design of the game."

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    1. 1) I casually used the word "country" because the "郷 (kyo)" in "Gensokyo" can be translated as "country." But, sure, alternate semantics might be better.

      2) Are you suggesting Mokou as someone who can represent androgyny in the series? Mokou is one of my favorite characters, and I do enjoy the perceivable hints of masculinity in her style. I've even cosplayed her, together with my girlfriend as Kaguya! It's been stated (in "Who's Who in Gensokyo") that Mokou's design is specifically intended to contrast Kaguya's, representing "uncouth" versus "refined" angles of immortality. With Kaguya being a very distinctly feminine princess, this does seem like an intentional aesthetic application of "yin and yang" (which can also be described in terms of "feminine and masculine").

      ...This connects quite strongly to your later point that ZUN considers femininity to be more beautiful/refined, compared to masculinity.

      However, I don't personally think it's hard to mistake Mokou for male, nor that she would identify as one. Maybe she wouldn't feel particularly attached to identifying as a woman, either, though. Living over a thousand years probably makes gender seem petty and irrelevant. In theory.

      3) I chose to emphasize that I'm not attributing any particular "reason" to ZUN, because I wanted it to be clear that anything I say is from my POV of subjective interpretation, rather than trying to appeal to the authority of ZUN-sourced objectivity. Of course, it's nice to be able to look at his words directly, too, so I appreciate the quote! And it's nice to acknowledge that creators do have reasons behind their actions. ...However, I also don't want to use this kind of "reason" as a conclusive conversation-ender on such nuanced topics. One fact doesn't cancel out other factors.

      In the cited interview, his motivation for claiming that 'there's a reason behind the feminine aesthetic' is specifically to insist that 'it's NOT for the reason of pandering to fans; rather, it's for the reason of creating a world design with the aesthetic that I personally want to see.' To that end, I'm inclined to argue that saying "because I like it" sounds largely comparable to saying "just because." When we talk about aesthetic or visuals, it sounds like an inherently shallower topic than meaning or message.

      But in fact, perhaps the shallowness/straightforwardness IS part of the message, similar to the in-universe philosophies behind danmaku itself. The conflation of danmaku with the feminine aesthetic, in that interview, certainly supports this comparison.

      From ZUN's "Grimoire of Marisa": "Without rules, danmaku would be nonsense. ... It's a game after all. A game isn't there to entertain you. You enjoy the game yourself. Maybe when you reach the point when you can enjoy anything, you can see the true glamour of the spell card for the first time."

      As you said, this focus on aesthetics helps foster a non-serious atmosphere, where characters in battle are more focused on style and grace and the game-like interaction of it rather than on the larger stakes. (...although recent games have been taking more serious turns, and I think ZUN's attitude toward his own series continues to evolve.) For a player, it's an atmosphere where you can put all your focus into the sensory impact and experience. This is the appeal of "beauty" and "aesthetic" as a design priority. This is what ZUN wants to achieve by equating femininity and beauty, and by using that as his consistent setting. It reinforces the themes and vibes of danmaku that he wishes to characterize his work.

      All that is true. You're right; aesthetic is a perfectly respectable artistic "reason."

      But at the same time, aesthetic doesn't exist in a vacuum.

      [continued]

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    2. [continued]

      I see ZUN as a person who seems to have very good values, but who is not pushing those values "on purpose" because he doesn't want to be preachy about it. As such, he is not purposely aiming to pass the Bechdel test, or to create a socially ideal single-gender world, or whatever. Nevertheless, he is, indeed, communicating SOMETHING. His goal is to make a game with a nice aesthetic, but his aesthetic reflects values in a subjective way.

      Given the reason of "I use female characters because I think femininity is beautiful," at first, it sounds shallow... but on the other hand, I think there is an inherent sense of respect behind it, considering that the series never grows into the type of sexualized fanservicey mess that you might see from other creators who say that they 'like women' or 'think women are pretty.' For many people, instinctively and subjectively, the conclusion to be drawn from 'femininity is beautiful' is that 'women are a spectacle' to be objectified. But for ZUN, the conclusion is that 'women are the agents; women in this story should be granted full agency of all interactions, because they're able to solve things more beautifully.'

      Equating femininity to beauty is an easy simplification. But even then, you can clearly see that ZUN's female characters are not exclusively centered on conventional female beauty and values. There are plenty with rough qualities, or androgynous qualities. Characters like Cirno (the "tomboyish girl" who is explicitly more concerned with allegedly masculine-aligned "contests of strength" rather than beauty) and Mokou (with her less feminine attire and strong yang energy) still fit into that world that ZUN describes as his vision. This diversity drives what seems like a well-intentioned ideal overall. And it differs somewhat from my own idealistic interpretation, but it isn't all that incompatible to branch out into.

      "A game isn't there to entertain you. You enjoy the game yourself." ZUN has made very clear on multiple occasions that he creates Touhou games strictly for himself, and to his own tastes, and not for the sake of anyone else. The resulting tone is genuine, wholesome, and straightforward. At the same time, he also actively enables extreme free range to secondary fanwork creators to interpret and enjoy the content as they please. Subjectivity is, after all, a huge part of the message and the lore of an "illusionary country"/"illusionary land."

      And it overflows into the real life and culture surrounding it. ZUN purposefully keeps his copyright status open in a way that welcomes innovation, and has said that he hopes to see his characters become an evolving part of shared mythological cultural conscience, akin to the Lovecraftian universe. As someone who has attended a convention Q&A with him, I know he is notorious for answering questions about his own lore with "I don't know" or "maybe" or "sure, why not?" His intent is not for people to read his interviews and say "oh, if that's what he said, then that's the only possible answer." Basically, I think ZUN is like, 'I do what I want. I write about things I like and value. Enjoy it if you can. Don't @ me about what it means. Feel free to decide what you think it means.'

      Sorry if this long ramble sounded off-topic, or if I misinterpreted your intents to shut down further discussion. I just think preserving the value of subjectivity and interpretation is important.

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    3. If we are talking of somebody who dresses in clothes that look like they were made for men, then Mokou is the first character I thought about. I wouldn't call it androgyny like you would though, I would say it's dressing in masculine clothes. Oh, so it was also supposed to contrast Kaguya, that's really cool.

      "However, I don't personally think it's hard to mistake Mokou for male, nor that she would identify as one..."

      Yeah, true, with Nightbug there was some uncertainty initially, while not with Mokou.

      "However, I also don't want to use this kind of "reason" as a conclusive conversation-ender on such nuanced topics. One fact doesn't cancel out other factors."

      Yeah, that's ok.

      "In the cited interview, his motivation for claiming that 'there's a reason behind the feminine aesthetic' is specifically to insist that 'it's NOT for the reason of pandering to fans; rather, it's for the reason of creating a world design with the aesthetic that I personally want to see.'"

      The lack of needless sexualization in touhou is refreshing, and this also plays into its aesthetics which it focuses a lot on. touhou would lose some of its aesthetic appeal if it did put in fanservice.

      The lack of seriousness is cool, I would associate seriousness is with shonen animes (some of them fail at that), and that shonen setting is very different than touhou. It's just so different in many aspects, it's hard to describe. One thing is that shonen often fails to make the situation look serious, and you know the MC will eventually win anyway, or get helped in some way, touhou can even break the 4th wall sometimes, and danmaku would be hard to explain in a setting that aims for moments that are maximally serious. In some works it would be handwaved why something was done just for it being aesthetically pleasing, even if it doesn't fit the serious setting, in touhou you don't need that. It's almost like you can justify any weird thing, and Gensokyo is full of weird things.

      "Nevertheless, he is, indeed, communicating SOMETHING. His goal is to make a game with a nice aesthetic, but his aesthetic reflects values in a subjective way."

      "For many people, instinctively and subjectively, the conclusion to be drawn from 'femininity is beautiful' is that 'women are a spectacle' to be objectified. But for ZUN, the conclusion is that 'women are the agents; women in this story should be granted full agency of all interactions, because they're able to solve things more beautifully.'"

      Yeah, I see some parallels to the "classical" feminist goals, I'm not sure if you know about it, but in the past there did exist a strong anti-porn movement in feminism, nowadays that's unpopular but at the time there was a lot of debate between the anti-porn feminists and the pro-porn feminists. Nowadays that's unpopular, and the pro-porn faction has won.

      "And it overflows into the real life and culture surrounding it. ZUN purposefully keeps his copyright status open in a way that welcomes innovation, and has said that he hopes to see his characters become an evolving part of shared mythological cultural conscience, akin to the Lovecraftian universe."

      Yeah, that's very cool that he is doing that, he is motivated just by creating an amazing setting, and you can see even some fangames that have way more production value than official touhou games.

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  11. It's actually interesting to consider what ZUN's political leanings could be. It is not certain, but based on what I have read he may be a kind of an older person who is a bit center-left in the European sense (I'm from Europe), with also some liberal/libertarian ideas. In USA I think he would be considered right wing nowadays. I would consider a good example of what one would call a progressive in USA to be The Young Turks, after all the hosts of the program always describe themselves as progressives, and I don't believe ZUN could be called a progressive in this sense. Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia may suggest that he may have a somewhat moderate, or maybe slightly positive view on immigration. But also the structure and title of it may suggest that he probably at the very least wouldn't consider himself a member of the American style right wing, though it doesn't exclude the possibility of him being right leaning, as he may just see himself as a different kind of a right winger (One European conservative minarchist has criticised Trump, he was far right). He also spoke in a certain way about discrimination which may suggest a somewhat left leaning, but it still isn't incompatible with somebody who would be right leaning. He also has expressed unwillingness to be "preachy" in his games when it comes to morality.

    In general these are inconclusive, it is still conceivable that all these facts could be compatible with him being somewhat right leaning. It seems more clear to me that he has some liberal/libertarian beliefs in general. What I will say though is that it is hard to see how his games could be compatible with fourth wave or third wave feminism, fourth wave feminism involves online activism, and both fourth wave feminism and third wave feminism embrace intersectionality and other ideas that just don't appear to be reconcilable with the design of Touhou games. I believe he may be more amenable to second wave feminism, or even "old style" radical feminism, since Touhou accepts the unique traits and qualities of women and doesn't compare women to men (Ie the idea that the more similar women become to the feminist perceptions of men, the more equal they will be, the idea that permeates third and fourth wave feminism). Maybe he would find some of Greer's ideas appealing?

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  12. Thank you very much for the thoughtful and balanced consideration! I'm afraid I don't have the political vocabulary to analyze in the same way, but I appreciate hearing from someone who does.

    I do have to say I'm a bit surprised at the level of subtlety in your reaction to "Alternative Facts." As an American reading it while in the throes of that disastrous presidency, it struck me as the clearest callout possible.

    "Slightly positive on immigration" - At the climax, Hecatia (one of the most powerful characters as described by ZUN) gives the idiot reporter protagonist a career-altering tongue-lashing for her close-mindedness; and Yukari (the most iconic representative of everything the fictional world represents) goes out of her way to emphasize that Gensokyo is necessarily welcoming and accepting of outside influence, even while the whole place is metaphysically defined by closed borders.

    "May suggest that he probably at the very least..." - The anti-Trump mockery was not only blatant in the title and the Miko article, but also confirmed purposeful in ZUN's afterword, and anti-Trump references later continued through Rinnosuke in "Curiosities of Lotus Asia."

    If one thing is abundantly and undeniably clear, it's that ZUN does not support Trump-style American right-wing politics. And so it really bothers and baffles me for that particular brand of extremist in the fanbase to project their shallow and bigoted views onto him.

    However, I do think it is a good and valid point that right and left are not uniform around the world (or even amidst groups within countries themselves), and that there are a lot of possibilities for how he would self-identify.

    This is why I didn't try to argue that ZUN is necessarily involved in "feminism" as a current political movement, with the lack of "activism" well-exemplified by that quote on "preachiness" (a quote which stuck with me, but from which my main takeaway was that he DOES have those beliefs at heart, which is the most important thing).

    If I ever say "I think ZUN is a feminist," I suppose I would be using a looser definition. The labels don't personally matter to me so much as the ideals themselves; I want a piece of media that I can feel comfortable partaking in as a positive and thought-provoking atmosphere for women and minorities. But again, I appreciate the intent to break it down more.

    Thanks for bringing up a feminist comparison that I'd be interested in looking into, too. From initial impressions, I'm disappointed in Greer's radical anti-trans angle, but I see your point that the focus on women's self-determination sounds relevant to the particular angle of feminism that can be seen in Touhou.

    As a last few notes on signs of ZUN's political leanings that might be worth consideration... The most recent arc of Touhou games share a distinctly anti-capitalist framework: the money-robbing/money-wasting villains of 15.5, the gluttonous oil crisis of 17.5, the exploitative and environmentally-destructive marketing scam of TH18. One metaphor is a coincidence, but a whole arc is a pattern.

    The Sealing Club side-stories, set in the future of the outside world, build upon a lot of pointed environmental and socioeconomic details that feel like warnings about pros and cons of modernization and certain governmental mindsets. We get insight into education (CoSD), economic inequality (MA), health care (NToJ), and even rumors about population control (DBOA). There's generally a stark contrast between societal advancement or "success" and social happiness.

    And "Curiosities" features plenty of intergenerational discourse between Sumireko & Rinnosuke on the topic of the outside world (including more anti-capitalism). Notably, the younger girl's knowledge and opinions are treated with respect. Despite being older, I think ZUN respects youth - and has also said he likes that young girls are becoming more prominent in the fandom.

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  13. 1/4 (I put in a lot of quotes)

    >I do have to say I'm a bit surprised at the level of subtlety in your reaction to "Alternative Facts." As an American reading it while in the throes of that disastrous presidency, it struck me as the clearest callout possible.

    Yes, I can see why some may see it as a callout, but I also believe ZUN doesn't actually know that much about US politics, I believe he has just read a few publications that were popular at the time, this is indicated by what he said in the afterword:

    "In order to make this book, I read a few weekly publications (especially with my editor, Mr. Okoki), but it’s really narrowed down to “actor scandals,” “government stories,” “health stories,” and “scandalous photos,” isn’t it?"


    >"Slightly positive on immigration" - At the climax, Hecatia (one of the most powerful characters as described by ZUN) gives the idiot reporter protagonist a career-altering tongue-lashing for her close-mindedness

    I have seen that part being referenced as indicating a clearly pro-immigration stance in the Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia, I have read that part, it was said:


    "Hecatia

    Hmm, good question. I guess it's because I find Gensokyo... charming?

    Aya

    Gensokyo has reached its current prosperity by remaining insular. It's believed that it's precisely because we don't let in people who do whatever they want, like they do in Hell, that we manage to be "charming".

    Hecatia

    Oh, are you saying that me being here is a bother?

    Aya

    No, I'm just saying that many people share that belief. Although I don't think it's so strange to believe that our wealth, resources, and society are our own, and to be bothered by the thought of people from other worlds snatching that away from us."


    To which Hecatia responded:

    "True, compared to Hell, I think Gensokyo has a lot of resources、the people are guaranteed safety, and they're even rich in spirit. However, those things aren't why I consider the place charming. It's because, compared to the new order of Hell, you're free here. Free to enter, and free to leave. Free to do and think as you like, and tolerant of others doing the same."

    This sounds rather like a nuanced recognition that Genoskyo's relative isolationism was generally successful. Later it was said:


    "Hecatia

    You seem to be under the impression that visitors from other worlds will see Gensokyo as nothing but fodder.

    Aya

    No, I'm just saying that lots of people think that.

    Hecatia

    Have you ever considered that visitors bringing new ideas is what preserves the stability of Gensokyo?

    Aya

    What do you mean, specifically?

    Hecatia

    A cage, like for a bird or an insect, can't function if it's completely sealed off. You need at least the air to pass through. Without the sun, the flowers wouldn't bloom. Similarly, without new wind and sun constantly entering Gensokyo, the place would simply die off. Closing off Gensokyo means no longer accepting things. Do you really think Gensokyo could survive without visitors bringing in new ideas?"


    Here Hecatia says:

    "A cage, like for a bird or an insect, can't function if it's completely sealed off. You need at least the air to pass through. Without the sun, the flowers wouldn't bloom. Similarly, without new wind and sun constantly entering Gensokyo, the place would simply die off. Closing off Gensokyo means no longer accepting things. Do you really think Gensokyo could survive without visitors bringing in new ideas?"

    Which rather suggests that she thinks there is a need for some immigration, ie some limited, relatively small amount of immigration. It seems more reasonable to interpret it as a more nuanced view that recognises the need for a bit of immigration, but not too much.

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  14. 2/4 (I put in a lot of quotes)

    I think it is also important to note what is the context here, the talk is about the immigration of the residents from Hell to gensokyo, this is how the residents of hell are described:


    "Aya

    But regarding visitors from Hell specifically, if they become a menace to public order then it could have long-lasting effects on-

    Hecatia

    Okay, try to think of it like this: say Gensokyo decides that Hell is the enemy and completely blocks off all ideas from Hell. Do you really think that would preserve the public order?

    Aya

    You've just told me that Hell is made up of people who do whatever they want with no regard for others.

    Hecatia

    We follow a doctrine of true freedom... but fine, close enough. People who don't mind bothering others, or rather have no concept of it. Naturally, when they're bothered themselves they wouldn't expect anyone to help them out either.

    Aya

    ...If those are the ideas from Hell, then yes, I think we'd be better off without them.

    Hecatia

    But surely there are people like that in Gensokyo too? By excluding these sorts of people, driving them back to Hell, all you're doing is gradually angering them. By creating the world you want in Gensokyo, you're starting a war with Hell. Where, need I remind you, they believe in true freedom. Such a war would be disastrous for Gensokyo. Your beloved "public order" would turn out to be nothing but an illusion. But more to the point, excluding others just isn't Gensokyo's style, is it? That's why you don't fight wars here. And that's what I find charming."


    So residents of hell can be said to be radical individualists, Hecatia thinks that there is a need for some people like that in society, but by the way she has responded, it can also be inferred that she does seem to think that too many of such individuals could indeed be a threat to public order. So immigration of too many of such individuals wouldn't be ideal.

    Also there may be another parallels that can be drawn here, one could interpret the residents of hell as anarchists. Though I don't believe attacking anarchism was his goal here, I believe he initially conceptualised residents of hell as a kind of radical individualists, which is pretty cool. He doesn't really criticise the residents of hell there, he rather recognises that the people of hell and Gensokyo have vastly different values that may be incompatible, but also that there is a need for some diversity.

    I think all of this may suggest that he probably recognises the need for a little bit of immigration because diversity in ideas can be valuable, but also given the character of residents of Hell (and them being said to be from Hell), it may be interpreted that Aya's worries are justified, after all Hecatia has an interest in increasing the immigration to Gensokyo. In this sense it may even be interpreted as a critique of certain forms of immigration, or too much immigration.

    Also, it is worth pointing out that the main reason Aya was convinced to not publish the magazine, was because she was told by Hecatia that she may be inadvertently helping the lunarians, and that she may have been influenced by the power of lunarians. (Maybe that was a reference to Sagume's power?)

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  15. 3/4 (I put in a lot of quotes)

    It is true that Yukari has said "Gensokyo is by no means a closed space. We are accepting of everyone.", but it is also interesting to consider the context in which it was said. It was said:

    "It's not just the one from the Outside World. Gensokyo has recently seen many visitors from many Otherworlds, including the moon, the Underworld, Makai, and even Hell. I believe this has been possible as a result of the weakening of some exclusionary force other than the Great Hakurei Barrier. In response to this, Ms. Yakumo again dodges the question: "Gensokyo is by no means a closed space. We are accepting of everyone.""

    So here what is being referenced to are "visitors", which are not the same as immigrants. So taking this into consideration, maybe the quote could be interpreted to mean "Gensokyo is by no means a closed space. We are accepting of all visitors".

    But I also believe that Yukari would be for more youkai coming to Gensokyo, but also she would probably believe in some sort of balance between humans and youkai, without humans youkai have no power.


    >The anti-Trump mockery was not only blatant in the title and the Miko article, but also confirmed purposeful in ZUN's afterword, and anti-Trump references later continued through Rinnosuke in "Curiosities of Lotus Asia."

    >If one thing is abundantly and undeniably clear, it's that ZUN does not support Trump-style American right-wing politics. And so it really bothers and baffles me for that particular brand of extremist in the fanbase to project their shallow and bigoted views onto him.

    It is important to consider the context in which all of it was done, the magazine was about the news and how the media spins the narrative, what was most popular in the media at that time? Well, if you googled Trump, 90+% of results in media would be critical of Trump, and ZUN did some research for the article, so it is reasonable to expect that he has seen A LOT of news that were critical of Trump, so he parodied Trump's speech. I think, as somebody who is not from USA, that it is possible that this kind of portrayal of Trump was intended as just a kind of a caricature, without necessarily taking a political stance, after all Japan is literally on the other side of the world. Trump undeniably has memorable quotes, and his approach to the 2016 election definitely stood out, not to mention that according to studies vast majority of political media coverage at that time was about Trump. You probably live in USA, but you also have to consider that people in other countries won't perceive the events of 2016 election in exactly the same way as an American would, especially if they don't know much about US politics (I follow US politics much more than an average person in my country does)


    >If I ever say "I think ZUN is a feminist," I suppose I would be using a looser definition. The labels don't personally matter to me so much as the ideals themselves; I want a piece of media that I can feel comfortable partaking in as a positive and thought-provoking atmosphere for women and minorities. But again, I appreciate the intent to break it down more.

    Sure, people use the word "feminism" in many ways, I have seen it often used as to mean general equality between genders, although various kinds of feminism have vastly different interpretations of what it means, and so confusion can arise. Gensokyo in general is a very free place.

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  16. 4/4 (I put in a lot of quotes)

    >As a last few notes on signs of ZUN's political leanings that might be worth consideration... The most recent arc of Touhou games share a distinctly anti-capitalist framework: the money-robbing/money-wasting villains of 15.5, the gluttonous oil crisis of 17.5, the exploitative and environmentally-destructive marketing scam of TH18. One metaphor is a coincidence, but a whole arc is a pattern.

    I don't know that much about these games, as far as I know ZUN draws a lot of inspiration from tales and myths which I think is pretty cool. I can see him being a kind of an environmentalist.

    The games had cool themes, in general I like the absurdity of some of ZUN's characters or settings. I can't say how much all of this relates to anti-capitalism, but it also can be noted that for example Chiang Kai-shek, a famous Chinese nationalist was largely anti-capitalist, he was for a kind of a third way between capitalism and socialism. From Wikipedia:

    "Contrary to Communist propaganda that he was pro-capitalism, Chiang antagonized the capitalists of Shanghai, often attacking them and confiscating their capital and assets for the use of the government. Chiang confiscated the wealth of capitalists even while he denounced and fought against communists.[47] Chiang crushed pro-communist worker and peasant organizations and rich Shanghai capitalists at the same time. Chiang continued the anti-capitalist ideology of Sun Yat-sen, directing Kuomintang media to openly attack capitalists and capitalism, while demanding government controlled industry instead."


    >The Sealing Club side-stories, set in the future of the outside world, build upon a lot of pointed environmental and socioeconomic details that feel like warnings about pros and cons of modernization and certain governmental mindsets. We get insight into education (CoSD), economic inequality (MA), health care (NToJ), and even rumors about population control (DBOA). There's generally a stark contrast between societal advancement or "success" and social happiness."

    >And "Curiosities" features plenty of intergenerational discourse between Sumireko & Rinnosuke on the topic of the outside world (including more anti-capitalism). Notably, the younger girl's knowledge and opinions are treated with respect. Despite being older, I think ZUN respects youth - and has also said he likes that young girls are becoming more prominent in the fandom.

    Yeah, ZUN can have some cool insights, you I haven't read these as much as you did. I will note, that while it is true that environmentalism is associated with the left, as opposed to the conservatives, I think that divide in USA is more pronounced than in other countries, though that is probably because the political parties are further apart on the political spectrum. On the far right there are some environmentalist ideas. The argument is that national heritage should be preserved, and that includes the environment.

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  17. *I haven't read as many of these as you did

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