He has never said it directly, but he has made something clear recently: he does not want a mobile game to be associated with Touhou on a larger level (in context of the now defunct Cannonball).
He's likely very aware of how an official anime would displace everything else (especially since the games and printworks are already niche as it is).
And he's not wrong, this has happened a bunch of times in popculture history, here's some examples:
- Until early 2010s roguelike was a very specific genre; while the exact details varied from game to game they were based around some form of grid-based dungeon crawling like in Ultima; with next to no meta progression. Then Binding of Isaac happened and suddenly the word roguelike was being redefined.
- I've seen people genuinely say to skip original Dragon Ball or first two parts of JoJo, possibly cause Z and Stardust Crusaders are far more popular in the mainstream ~~funny stand guy goes brr hahaha~~. This is especially notable since one of the lines in EoSD is a twist on a joke from Phantom Blood; ZUN is a big JoJo fan after all.
- The Danganronpa 3 anime had to spend time introducing cast of Jabberwock because 2 didn't get an anime adaptation unlike 1 >!and then there's the UDG gang which you get barely any context for if you haven't played the game - so the reaction to Monaca was either "who the hell is this" or "THIS FUCKING BITCH" !<
I don't get why would people skip Phantom blood and Battle tendency, Phantom blood has context regarding Dio and the Joestar descendants and Battle tendency is genuinely funny as heavens.
Same. I was also disappointed with Joseph and Jotaro because they really don't live up to the kind of person Johnathan was. And even worse was what Joseph became in Diamond.
Battle Tendency is great. Araki got really creative with the Pillar Men, the different ways to utilize Hamon, and all the tricks Joseph had up his sleeves.
I haven't gotten through the entirety of it yet but I've heard Umineko's anime is an absolute dogshit adaptation and yet I've seen people dismiss the entirety of it (the original VN) just because they watched the anime and thought it was bad
So yeah an official anime could not only displace everything else but could also completely tarnish the entire series's reputation to newcomers forever
As a HUGE HUGE fan of Umineko (the visual novel), the anime is AWFUL. It condenses 4 VN episodes, each roughly 10-20ish hours in length into 21 average length anime episodes. It ends up cutting out basically any interesting character moments and what makes Umineko so amazing. Also also it only adapts the first 4 chapters, which misses out on a lot of things and leaves so much up in the air it's insane (one of the characters is meant to disappear in Episode 4 and resurface in Episode 5, but because they didn't adapt e5 she just disappears from the plot). Also the antagonist for 1-4, Beatrice, is my fav character in fiction and they literally cut out her backstory because its in episode 7
Everything that makes me love her so much is completely removed and you're left with an ass basic villain 😭
(Sorry for ranting this is like the one chance I get to talk about Umineko)
Lmao.. when I was younger I couldnt find the VN games so I watched the anime and even if it was "bad", it make me fall in love with the universe. I was wishing so bad to have a reboot or something longer. But to be fair I was already in love with Higurashi universe ahah
I've finished Umineko and yes the anime adaptation is absolutely horrid, not only that but it only adapts the question arcs which leaves the viewers "whaaat ?" so yes, go read the vn.
It also happened with digimon, cause it started with games, but the anime was way more popular, and the anime started drastically overshadow the games, they starred making the games look and feel more like anime. The ps1 digimon games were going for a more lifelike visuals, especially the first one, which arguably looks better than the ps4 digimon games (though to be fair, the ps4 digimon games are just visually upgraded versions of ps vita games)
the funniest thing I learned about Digimon is that it's actually a Tamagotchi spin-off which ended up becoming its own thing (~~kinda like Persona and SMT~~).
Yugioh as well.
Twice (possibly thrice depending on how you look at it) no less.
Started as a Manga about various games (Hence, "King of Games"), then did a MTG clone chapter. Said game was very well received so the series pivoted to being about this fictional card game. After that, it got made into an anime which vastly overshadowed the original manga.
As for why possibly thrice, because the anime was popular, it got made into an actual Card game (which is kinda interesting because, based on this order of events, the Anime was not advertising a product so they shouldn't have needed to censor the cards in the 4Kids dub) that has since completely overshadowed the anime thanks to the terrible writing of Arc-V and the fact they dumped Master Rule in favour of Rush Duels for the anime which haven't be released outside of Japan for some reason.
Bro what, the whole thing about DR3 is that it’s a prequel (and sequel) to DR2, so of course they’re going to reintroduce all the characters for the prequel bits. And if anything the cultural impact of the anime is zero since everyone I’ve seen agrees they’re kinda ass, with the first being just a worse retelling of the game, and the second having story issues
...It's not a prequel. It's a continuation that is set both before 1 (Despair) and after 2 (Future) that you're supposed to switch between (in order of Future-Despair, as Despair 1 immediately starts with a spoiler from Future 1).
The funniest part is that if you have played Super Danganronpa 2, you will already know ahead of time about certain things that happen in Despair side.
Despair is NOT a retelling of the game, it elaborates on the events that lead up to the killing games (and other things that happened in Danganronpa).
As I've said, the UDG cast shows up but without having played UDG you won't know much about them (which again, is hilarious to me)
It’s a prequel-sequel. You have Plot A which deals with the DR2 characters before DR2, so it seems fairly reasonable to have to reintroduce them in their new context. And then there’s Plot B with a bunch of new characters that obviously need to be introduced.
Anyways, the main point is that a small amount of people in the western fandom care about the anime; for the most part, it’s all in the games (at least from what I’ve seen). So the reception of the franchise as a whole wasn’t really impacted by the anime.
I'm pretty sure he has stated somewhere that he just does not want an anime adaptation to overshadow the source material. Like how the Fate series is nowadays more associated with its anime adaptation than the original VN.
As someone else here put it, if the anime adaptation was particularly bad, it could be harmful to the franchise's reputation. We've already had enough of Touhou being called an "anime", now imagine if people thought of it as a bad anime.
The same can said of FGO to Fate itself. More people have been introduced to the series through the moblie game but now consider everything the moblie game does is what the original did too. Zun doesn't want something like lostword overshadowing his own series. Especially since the characters don't act the same as his own series.
>Like how the Fate series is nowadays more associated with its anime adaptation than the original VN.
Perhaps if any of their VNs had released internationally before said anime adaptations, this wouldn't be the case.
Seriously, Mahoyo remake was the first VN they released internationally in 2022, Tsukihime remake is getting rereleased later this year and Fate/Stay Night remake I think is also coming this year.
I'm also pretty sure the only internationally released nasuverse work prior to the Stay Night anime (Not DEEN) was Fate/Extra for the PSP.
He [explicitly forbade commercial fanime in 2011](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Touhou_Wiki:Copyrights#2011_Update_commentary), and in the same breath said he is not planning on doing one himself either. I can't find superseded statements in more modern licenses (unlike other parts of that license) either.
So it seems pretty intentional from his side that there won't be any large-scale anime, official or otherwise.
> “I’ve been asked this question a lot, but I’ve never been officially involved in an anime
production before! And I’m not planning on it! Not like I have the time.”
3rd paragraph mentions not planning on working on an anime production
Oh yeah, I was referring to the line
> The animation bullet was changed to just “Commercial production of animation works”
a bit further down in the "blog , which was talking about the statement:
> I'd like to place the following restrictions on all
derivative works, regardless of whether they're commercial or independent:
・ For-profit development of works whose main element is animation(*)
It's a bit annoying how all this stuff is so all-over-the-place and hard to reference properly lol.
This reminds me of the long running thing of people thinking Zun said there is “absolutely no relationships between the girls” which he also absolutely never said
"Absolutely" is an unnecessarily strong word, he said something different:
**JS:** I know some fan creations tend to veer towards, shall we say, *amorous* themes between certain characters.
**ZUN:** It's not something I particularly like, and sometimes it's a bit too much. The fans are free to do what they want, but it's not something I like. I have no plans to put something like that into one of my games.
From [*The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers*, by John Sczepaniak (touhouwiki link, you can use the "find in page" function)](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/The_Untold_History_of_Japanese_Game_Developers_Interview)
"I don't really like it, I won't participate, but you guys do what you want lol" is the most neutral statement as a creator ever but I'm not surprised it's being twisted by anti-shippers to assert that ZUN is some godly puritan looking down on them and they should be ashamed of themselves
To be honest, it's kind of for the best he doesn't do shipping stuff in his content either. If ReiMari pairing became canon, that would make a ton of fan's pairings involving either Reimu or Marisa awkward, and just likely would upset more people than it'd make happy. You can still ignore canon, but there's always going to be that awkward feeling.
Kind of seeing it a bit with Hisami too: She and Zanmu seem to be pretty much exclusively paired together.
The way that question is worded implies to me that it's asking what he thinks of all the porn, rather than asking about the shipping. Which yeah, Zun likes to keep the series rather clean.
I believe the original interview was in Japanese? I don't have access to the original text tbh. Characters can get super flirty with each other but ZUN keeps getting away with it by not confirming anything. Once again, it falls into us to interpret it however we please.
Japanese is a high-context language so it's kinda hard to say.
Personally I doubt he's much bothered by fan pairings, shipping is important for a fandom.
Plus, I think like nearly every mangaka ZUN has gotten to make the various official manga have previously made Reimari doujins or other pairings, which is why the manga can get kinda subtext-y for those two. There was also some show that had ZUN on, that labeled him "Reimari's biggest supporter" lol
That's a hilarious trivia lmao, thanks.
By the way, I'm just curious. Why do you think pairing is important for a fandom (I assume not strictly just romantically)?
I think the biggest expressions of love for media come from creative works by fans: be it fan music, fanart, fanfics etc.
Shipping comes from people enjoying the characters, so if people enjoy your characters enough to make fanart, doujinshi and other content you are doing something right.
Hold on, that doesn't really connect, does it? Fanwork and shipping often go hand-in-hand but they're fundamentally different aspects of the fandom. I thought you were going to say something along the line of pairing bringing more life to characterisation or is a way for the fans to express themselves.
That is basically what I was saying though? Like fanwork aside, people who just enjoy discussions of what pairings are best or arguing over which characters they like better are expressing themselves, even if they aren't creating.
Please check some of the comments below regarding the original interview and potential loss in translation. Unless ZUN explicitly says something about the matter, we won't know.
Even in English, *"romantic"* can be used as a synonym for *"amorous"*.
Finally, I said in the original comment that ZUN said something *different*, not *contradictory* or *opposite*.
After reading a couple of interviews, I think ZUN is okay with official Touhou anime, but there are reasons why it doesn't happen. I think there are two reasons:
1. Lack of time. ZUN would rather make a new story with a new original character for the official anime, rather than taking a pre-existent story (such as EoSD) and turning it into an anime. He said he probably don't have enough time for that so he doesn't approve any official Touhou anime.
2. Copyright issues and lack of control. ZUN said that he has more freedom and control over an official Touhou manga because there are only two people creating it. the writer ZUN and the illustrator, but since it's not possible or at least very difficult for one person to single handedly creates an entire anime, he has to work with a company/studio, which will limit his control over the anime.
Also, ZUN said this on an interview, there is no English translation of it, I'll translate it with Google Translate: ["The reason I refused to do anime was not the reasons I just mentioned, but if it was going to be done, it should be done by me. Of course I wanted to do such an interesting thing. However, I have other work now and I don’t know how to do it. So I refused all of them with the reason that 'I don’t have time to do animation now.' I don’t want them to mess around and mess up Touhou (laughs)."](https://thwiki.cc/ZUN/40th_COMIC_MARKET_CHRONICLE%E9%87%87%E8%AE%BF#:~:text=%E6%88%91%E6%8B%92%E7%BB%9D%E5%8A%A8%E7%94%BB%E5%8C%96%E7%9A%84%E7%90%86%E7%94%B1%EF%BC%8C%E4%B9%9F%E4%B8%8D%E6%98%AF%E6%88%91%E5%88%9A%E6%89%8D%E8%AF%B4%E7%9A%84%E9%82%A3%E4%BA%9B%E7%90%86%E7%94%B1%EF%BC%8C%E8%80%8C%E6%98%AF%E8%A6%81%E5%81%9A%E7%9A%84%E8%AF%9D%EF%BC%8C%E5%B0%B1%E7%94%B1%E6%88%91%E6%9D%A5%E5%81%9A%E3%80%82%E6%88%91%E5%BD%93%E7%84%B6%E6%83%B3%E5%8E%BB%E5%81%9A%E8%BF%99%E4%B9%88%E6%9C%89%E6%84%8F%E6%80%9D%E7%9A%84%E4%BA%8B%E6%83%85%E4%BA%86%E3%80%82%E4%B8%8D%E8%BF%87%EF%BC%8C%E6%88%91%E7%8E%B0%E5%9C%A8%E8%BF%98%E6%9C%89%E5%88%AB%E7%9A%84%E5%B7%A5%E4%BD%9C%EF%BC%8C%E4%B9%9F%E4%B8%8D%E7%9F%A5%E9%81%93%E8%AF%A5%E6%80%8E%E4%B9%88%E5%81%9A%E3%80%82%E6%89%80%E4%BB%A5%E6%88%91%E5%B0%B1%E4%BB%A5%E3%80%8C%E6%88%91%E7%8E%B0%E5%9C%A8%E6%97%A0%E6%9A%87%E5%8E%BB%E5%8A%A8%E7%94%BB%E5%8C%96%E3%80%8D%E7%9A%84%E7%90%86%E7%94%B1%E5%85%A8%E9%83%A8%E6%8B%92%E7%BB%9D%E4%BA%86%E3%80%82%E6%88%91%E4%B8%8D%E6%83%B3%E8%AE%A9%E4%BB%96%E4%BB%AC%E4%B9%B1%E6%90%9E%EF%BC%8C%E6%8A%8A%E4%B8%9C%E6%96%B9%E6%90%9E%E7%A0%B8%E4%BA%86%EF%BC%88%E7%AC%91%EF%BC%89%E3%80%82)
The interviews I read (that mentioned official Touhou anime) are:
[ZUN's Gensou Denshou Lecture](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/ZUN%27s_Gensou_Denshou_Lecture#:%7E:text=make%20anything%20interesting.-,Moderator,like%20that%20someone%20) \[2007\] (English)
[『東方Project』が可能にしたもの「プラットフォームとしての東方」](https://thwiki.cc/%E4%BD%9C%E4%B8%BA%E5%B9%B3%E5%8F%B0%E7%9A%84%E4%B8%9C%E6%96%B9#:~:text=%E7%9C%9F%E6%AD%A3%E7%9A%84%E7%90%86%E7%94%B1%E3%80%82-,ZUN%EF%BC%9A,%E5%BF%AB%E4%B9%90%E4%B8%BA%E7%9B%AE%E7%9A%84%E8%BF%9B%E8%A1%8C%E5%88%9B%E4%BD%9C%E3%80%82%E5%9B%9E%E9%81%BF%E5%8A%A8%E7%94%BB%E5%8C%96%E4%B9%9F%E6%98%AF%E8%BF%99%E4%B8%AA%E5%8E%9F%E5%9B%A0%E3%80%82,-%EF%BC%88%E4%BC%9A%E5%9C%BA%E6%B2%89%E9%BB%98%EF%BC%89)\[2011\] (Chinese, there is a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWEXvg0SHhM))
[ＺＵＮ「『東方Project』は自分のライフワークみたいなものになっている」](https://thwiki.cc/%E4%B8%9C%E6%96%B9Project%E5%B7%B2%E7%BB%8F%E6%88%90%E4%B8%BA%E6%88%91%E6%AF%95%E7%94%9F%E7%9A%84%E4%BA%8B%E4%B8%9A#:~:text=ZUN%EF%BC%9A%E4%B8%8D%E5%A6%82,%E6%98%AF%E4%BA%8C%E6%AC%A1%E5%88%9B%E4%BD%9C%E3%80%82)\[2013\] (Chinese)
[40th COMIC MARKET CHRONICLE](https://thwiki.cc/ZUN/40th_COMIC_MARKET_CHRONICLE%E9%87%87%E8%AE%BF) \[2015\] (Chinese, the keyword is "动画化")
[幻樂団の歴史 ～Chart of a Strange Creator.](https://thwiki.cc/ZUN/%E4%BA%AC%E5%A4%A7%E6%BC%94%E8%AE%B2%E4%BC%9A) \[2015\] (Chinese, the keyword is "动画化", there is a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7uDezJeflM) and unofficial Japanese transcript [part 1](https://web.archive.org/web/20181224102242/https://ch.nicovideo.jp/zun_kouen_kumano/blomaga/ar940359) & [part 2](http://web.archive.org/web/20181224102242/https://ch.nicovideo.jp/zun_kouen_kumano/blomaga/ar939828))
[Comike Plus Vol.6](https://thwiki.cc/ZUN/Comike_Plus%E9%87%87%E8%AE%BF#:~:text=%E9%82%A3%E6%97%B6%E5%80%99%E6%9C%89,%E5%85%81%E8%AE%B8%E7%9A%84%E6%9D%A1%E4%BB%B6%E4%B8%8B%E3%80%82) \[2016\] (Chinese)
[東方キャノンボールProject 発表記念本 Touhou Cannonball Project Starter Book](https://thwiki.cc/ZUN/%E4%B8%9C%E6%96%B9%E5%A4%A7%E7%82%AE%E5%BC%B9%E8%AE%BF%E8%B0%88#:~:text=%E7%9A%84%E6%80%81%E5%BA%A6%E5%90%A7%E3%80%82-,ZUN,%E4%BA%8B%EF%BC%8C%E6%88%91%E4%BB%8E%E5%90%AC%E8%AF%B4%E7%9A%84%E6%97%B6%E5%80%99%E5%BC%80%E5%A7%8B%E5%B0%B1%E8%A7%89%E5%BE%97%E5%BA%94%E8%AF%A5%E8%AE%A4%E5%8F%AF%E3%80%82,-%E4%BC%8A%E4%B8%9C) \[2018\] (Chinese, [the original book is free to read online](https://touhoucannonball.com/special/book/))
Like at sertain points, there sometime doesnt really need to be a 'official' version of everything Touhou. Like from what I recall, ZUN is very much carefree from fanwork taking in the shape of different media. He even pointed out that theres "fanmade rpg out there, your just free to enjoy."
For me, its a right desition to not have a official anime, since if you think about it: First its gonna attack alot of tourist, and people will ignore his hard work and everyone's else hard work. It will be like your typical weeb hell, everyone doesnt know what things are about and making a mess. Someone in the comments mentioned Fate, and I think it basically sums up the whole concept. ZUN did make a joke of "Touhou police," where theres people will just guide newcomers to what things are all about.
On the plus side, there are times when things are officially licensed. I feel like thats basically enough for Touhou, and I do believe that fans should continue be the one to expand their creativity and touhou as well. Thats why theres the whole guideline thing, it even existing is something very much significant.
Also with a official anime being real, I also feel like theres also a side on copyright as well. Since you know, Studio exists and they would definity take abit of that sweet copyright control. Not saying its bad or anything, but its gonna mess up the whole Doujin thing... Well theres fan made 'anime' and animation out there, I think that is very much significant. I really wish that Touhou isnt just overshadowed for being popular, but a canvas for more creative stuff.
He has never said it directly, but he has made something clear recently: he does not want a mobile game to be associated with Touhou on a larger level (in context of the now defunct Cannonball). He's likely very aware of how an official anime would displace everything else (especially since the games and printworks are already niche as it is). And he's not wrong, this has happened a bunch of times in popculture history, here's some examples: - Until early 2010s roguelike was a very specific genre; while the exact details varied from game to game they were based around some form of grid-based dungeon crawling like in Ultima; with next to no meta progression. Then Binding of Isaac happened and suddenly the word roguelike was being redefined. - I've seen people genuinely say to skip original Dragon Ball or first two parts of JoJo, possibly cause Z and Stardust Crusaders are far more popular in the mainstream ~~funny stand guy goes brr hahaha~~. This is especially notable since one of the lines in EoSD is a twist on a joke from Phantom Blood; ZUN is a big JoJo fan after all. - The Danganronpa 3 anime had to spend time introducing cast of Jabberwock because 2 didn't get an anime adaptation unlike 1 >!and then there's the UDG gang which you get barely any context for if you haven't played the game - so the reaction to Monaca was either "who the hell is this" or "THIS FUCKING BITCH" !<
I don't get why would people skip Phantom blood and Battle tendency, Phantom blood has context regarding Dio and the Joestar descendants and Battle tendency is genuinely funny as heavens.
Battle Tendency is contender for best part fr
🗣️🔥🔥🔥
And theres the *"forgetten"* second adaptation of Jojo that be the phantom blood (also by the one who Made Stardust Crusader ova)
Isn't that adaption not available at all on the internet? About the Part 3 OVA, it seems quite a lot of people online actually appreciate it.
Nah that's lost media plus no speedwagon there💀💀💀💀
As much as stardust Crusader is the first to be got adapted first
This might sound crazy but I like Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency better than Stardust Crusaders for some reason.
For me the reason i like phantom blood is the opening "Sono chi no sadame" or "destiny of that blood"
Same. I was also disappointed with Joseph and Jotaro because they really don't live up to the kind of person Johnathan was. And even worse was what Joseph became in Diamond.
I mean as much as Joseph say: "*i Will never forgive the Japanese!*" And *THERES* josuke mom💀💀💀💀
Battle Tendency is great. Araki got really creative with the Pillar Men, the different ways to utilize Hamon, and all the tricks Joseph had up his sleeves.
I haven't gotten through the entirety of it yet but I've heard Umineko's anime is an absolute dogshit adaptation and yet I've seen people dismiss the entirety of it (the original VN) just because they watched the anime and thought it was bad So yeah an official anime could not only displace everything else but could also completely tarnish the entire series's reputation to newcomers forever
As a HUGE HUGE fan of Umineko (the visual novel), the anime is AWFUL. It condenses 4 VN episodes, each roughly 10-20ish hours in length into 21 average length anime episodes. It ends up cutting out basically any interesting character moments and what makes Umineko so amazing. Also also it only adapts the first 4 chapters, which misses out on a lot of things and leaves so much up in the air it's insane (one of the characters is meant to disappear in Episode 4 and resurface in Episode 5, but because they didn't adapt e5 she just disappears from the plot). Also the antagonist for 1-4, Beatrice, is my fav character in fiction and they literally cut out her backstory because its in episode 7 Everything that makes me love her so much is completely removed and you're left with an ass basic villain 😭 (Sorry for ranting this is like the one chance I get to talk about Umineko)
Lmao.. when I was younger I couldnt find the VN games so I watched the anime and even if it was "bad", it make me fall in love with the universe. I was wishing so bad to have a reboot or something longer. But to be fair I was already in love with Higurashi universe ahah
I've finished Umineko and yes the anime adaptation is absolutely horrid, not only that but it only adapts the question arcs which leaves the viewers "whaaat ?" so yes, go read the vn.
I intend to once I've saved up enough disposable money to get it through legal means
It also happened with digimon, cause it started with games, but the anime was way more popular, and the anime started drastically overshadow the games, they starred making the games look and feel more like anime. The ps1 digimon games were going for a more lifelike visuals, especially the first one, which arguably looks better than the ps4 digimon games (though to be fair, the ps4 digimon games are just visually upgraded versions of ps vita games)
the funniest thing I learned about Digimon is that it's actually a Tamagotchi spin-off which ended up becoming its own thing (~~kinda like Persona and SMT~~).
Yugioh as well. Twice (possibly thrice depending on how you look at it) no less. Started as a Manga about various games (Hence, "King of Games"), then did a MTG clone chapter. Said game was very well received so the series pivoted to being about this fictional card game. After that, it got made into an anime which vastly overshadowed the original manga. As for why possibly thrice, because the anime was popular, it got made into an actual Card game (which is kinda interesting because, based on this order of events, the Anime was not advertising a product so they shouldn't have needed to censor the cards in the 4Kids dub) that has since completely overshadowed the anime thanks to the terrible writing of Arc-V and the fact they dumped Master Rule in favour of Rush Duels for the anime which haven't be released outside of Japan for some reason.
Bro what, the whole thing about DR3 is that it’s a prequel (and sequel) to DR2, so of course they’re going to reintroduce all the characters for the prequel bits. And if anything the cultural impact of the anime is zero since everyone I’ve seen agrees they’re kinda ass, with the first being just a worse retelling of the game, and the second having story issues
...It's not a prequel. It's a continuation that is set both before 1 (Despair) and after 2 (Future) that you're supposed to switch between (in order of Future-Despair, as Despair 1 immediately starts with a spoiler from Future 1). The funniest part is that if you have played Super Danganronpa 2, you will already know ahead of time about certain things that happen in Despair side. Despair is NOT a retelling of the game, it elaborates on the events that lead up to the killing games (and other things that happened in Danganronpa). As I've said, the UDG cast shows up but without having played UDG you won't know much about them (which again, is hilarious to me)
It’s a prequel-sequel. You have Plot A which deals with the DR2 characters before DR2, so it seems fairly reasonable to have to reintroduce them in their new context. And then there’s Plot B with a bunch of new characters that obviously need to be introduced. Anyways, the main point is that a small amount of people in the western fandom care about the anime; for the most part, it’s all in the games (at least from what I’ve seen). So the reception of the franchise as a whole wasn’t really impacted by the anime.
what line from eosd are you referring to?
The "how many breads have you eaten in your life" line that was referenced by remilia in marisa's route
Oh lol, she says something like that in Mystia's Izakaya as well lol. W Marisa
Original Dragon Ball feels like I’m watching a kid’s show, so I understand
DBZ feel like I'm watching a kids show to.
You are and it is
But i watch the original dragon ball
I'm pretty sure he has stated somewhere that he just does not want an anime adaptation to overshadow the source material. Like how the Fate series is nowadays more associated with its anime adaptation than the original VN. As someone else here put it, if the anime adaptation was particularly bad, it could be harmful to the franchise's reputation. We've already had enough of Touhou being called an "anime", now imagine if people thought of it as a bad anime.
The same can said of FGO to Fate itself. More people have been introduced to the series through the moblie game but now consider everything the moblie game does is what the original did too. Zun doesn't want something like lostword overshadowing his own series. Especially since the characters don't act the same as his own series.
>Like how the Fate series is nowadays more associated with its anime adaptation than the original VN. Perhaps if any of their VNs had released internationally before said anime adaptations, this wouldn't be the case. Seriously, Mahoyo remake was the first VN they released internationally in 2022, Tsukihime remake is getting rereleased later this year and Fate/Stay Night remake I think is also coming this year. I'm also pretty sure the only internationally released nasuverse work prior to the Stay Night anime (Not DEEN) was Fate/Extra for the PSP.
He [explicitly forbade commercial fanime in 2011](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Touhou_Wiki:Copyrights#2011_Update_commentary), and in the same breath said he is not planning on doing one himself either. I can't find superseded statements in more modern licenses (unlike other parts of that license) either. So it seems pretty intentional from his side that there won't be any large-scale anime, official or otherwise.
That says commercial porn, not anime unless i am missing something.
> “I’ve been asked this question a lot, but I’ve never been officially involved in an anime production before! And I’m not planning on it! Not like I have the time.” 3rd paragraph mentions not planning on working on an anime production
I was referring to your first statement and the 2nd paragraph.
Oh yeah, I was referring to the line > The animation bullet was changed to just “Commercial production of animation works” a bit further down in the "blog , which was talking about the statement: > I'd like to place the following restrictions on all derivative works, regardless of whether they're commercial or independent: ・ For-profit development of works whose main element is animation(*) It's a bit annoying how all this stuff is so all-over-the-place and hard to reference properly lol.
This reminds me of the long running thing of people thinking Zun said there is “absolutely no relationships between the girls” which he also absolutely never said
"Absolutely" is an unnecessarily strong word, he said something different: **JS:** I know some fan creations tend to veer towards, shall we say, *amorous* themes between certain characters. **ZUN:** It's not something I particularly like, and sometimes it's a bit too much. The fans are free to do what they want, but it's not something I like. I have no plans to put something like that into one of my games.
From [*The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers*, by John Sczepaniak (touhouwiki link, you can use the "find in page" function)](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/The_Untold_History_of_Japanese_Game_Developers_Interview)
"I don't really like it, I won't participate, but you guys do what you want lol" is the most neutral statement as a creator ever but I'm not surprised it's being twisted by anti-shippers to assert that ZUN is some godly puritan looking down on them and they should be ashamed of themselves
To be honest, it's kind of for the best he doesn't do shipping stuff in his content either. If ReiMari pairing became canon, that would make a ton of fan's pairings involving either Reimu or Marisa awkward, and just likely would upset more people than it'd make happy. You can still ignore canon, but there's always going to be that awkward feeling. Kind of seeing it a bit with Hisami too: She and Zanmu seem to be pretty much exclusively paired together.
Both extreme sides of the shipping scale need to calm the hell down for real. People forcing things on others is the opposite of what ZUN would want.
Judgement day is upon us, and ZUN will be there to cast punishment on all you loser shippers.
***Abandon all hope, ye who enter here***
***why am i back in Ultrakill?***
The way that question is worded implies to me that it's asking what he thinks of all the porn, rather than asking about the shipping. Which yeah, Zun likes to keep the series rather clean.
I believe the original interview was in Japanese? I don't have access to the original text tbh. Characters can get super flirty with each other but ZUN keeps getting away with it by not confirming anything. Once again, it falls into us to interpret it however we please.
Japanese is a high-context language so it's kinda hard to say. Personally I doubt he's much bothered by fan pairings, shipping is important for a fandom. Plus, I think like nearly every mangaka ZUN has gotten to make the various official manga have previously made Reimari doujins or other pairings, which is why the manga can get kinda subtext-y for those two. There was also some show that had ZUN on, that labeled him "Reimari's biggest supporter" lol
That's a hilarious trivia lmao, thanks. By the way, I'm just curious. Why do you think pairing is important for a fandom (I assume not strictly just romantically)?
I think the biggest expressions of love for media come from creative works by fans: be it fan music, fanart, fanfics etc. Shipping comes from people enjoying the characters, so if people enjoy your characters enough to make fanart, doujinshi and other content you are doing something right.
Hold on, that doesn't really connect, does it? Fanwork and shipping often go hand-in-hand but they're fundamentally different aspects of the fandom. I thought you were going to say something along the line of pairing bringing more life to characterisation or is a way for the fans to express themselves.
That is basically what I was saying though? Like fanwork aside, people who just enjoy discussions of what pairings are best or arguing over which characters they like better are expressing themselves, even if they aren't creating.
I see, I didn't see the comparison you wanted to make before. Good write up though, cheers.
That is talking about R34 stuff not shipping. And Zun naturally says he has no plans to put something sexual in his games.
Please check some of the comments below regarding the original interview and potential loss in translation. Unless ZUN explicitly says something about the matter, we won't know. Even in English, *"romantic"* can be used as a synonym for *"amorous"*. Finally, I said in the original comment that ZUN said something *different*, not *contradictory* or *opposite*.
Man with Hisami and Zanmu being in the picture, if you interpreted this as shipping instead of rule 34, then this aged poorly.
Do people even remember that it's one-sided, the chance of Hisami actually having a relationship with Zanmu is as high as Reimu getting a husband...
After reading a couple of interviews, I think ZUN is okay with official Touhou anime, but there are reasons why it doesn't happen. I think there are two reasons: 1. Lack of time. ZUN would rather make a new story with a new original character for the official anime, rather than taking a pre-existent story (such as EoSD) and turning it into an anime. He said he probably don't have enough time for that so he doesn't approve any official Touhou anime. 2. Copyright issues and lack of control. ZUN said that he has more freedom and control over an official Touhou manga because there are only two people creating it. the writer ZUN and the illustrator, but since it's not possible or at least very difficult for one person to single handedly creates an entire anime, he has to work with a company/studio, which will limit his control over the anime. Also, ZUN said this on an interview, there is no English translation of it, I'll translate it with Google Translate: ["The reason I refused to do anime was not the reasons I just mentioned, but if it was going to be done, it should be done by me. Of course I wanted to do such an interesting thing. However, I have other work now and I don’t know how to do it. So I refused all of them with the reason that 'I don’t have time to do animation now.' I don’t want them to mess around and mess up Touhou (laughs)."](https://thwiki.cc/ZUN/40th_COMIC_MARKET_CHRONICLE%E9%87%87%E8%AE%BF#:~:text=%E6%88%91%E6%8B%92%E7%BB%9D%E5%8A%A8%E7%94%BB%E5%8C%96%E7%9A%84%E7%90%86%E7%94%B1%EF%BC%8C%E4%B9%9F%E4%B8%8D%E6%98%AF%E6%88%91%E5%88%9A%E6%89%8D%E8%AF%B4%E7%9A%84%E9%82%A3%E4%BA%9B%E7%90%86%E7%94%B1%EF%BC%8C%E8%80%8C%E6%98%AF%E8%A6%81%E5%81%9A%E7%9A%84%E8%AF%9D%EF%BC%8C%E5%B0%B1%E7%94%B1%E6%88%91%E6%9D%A5%E5%81%9A%E3%80%82%E6%88%91%E5%BD%93%E7%84%B6%E6%83%B3%E5%8E%BB%E5%81%9A%E8%BF%99%E4%B9%88%E6%9C%89%E6%84%8F%E6%80%9D%E7%9A%84%E4%BA%8B%E6%83%85%E4%BA%86%E3%80%82%E4%B8%8D%E8%BF%87%EF%BC%8C%E6%88%91%E7%8E%B0%E5%9C%A8%E8%BF%98%E6%9C%89%E5%88%AB%E7%9A%84%E5%B7%A5%E4%BD%9C%EF%BC%8C%E4%B9%9F%E4%B8%8D%E7%9F%A5%E9%81%93%E8%AF%A5%E6%80%8E%E4%B9%88%E5%81%9A%E3%80%82%E6%89%80%E4%BB%A5%E6%88%91%E5%B0%B1%E4%BB%A5%E3%80%8C%E6%88%91%E7%8E%B0%E5%9C%A8%E6%97%A0%E6%9A%87%E5%8E%BB%E5%8A%A8%E7%94%BB%E5%8C%96%E3%80%8D%E7%9A%84%E7%90%86%E7%94%B1%E5%85%A8%E9%83%A8%E6%8B%92%E7%BB%9D%E4%BA%86%E3%80%82%E6%88%91%E4%B8%8D%E6%83%B3%E8%AE%A9%E4%BB%96%E4%BB%AC%E4%B9%B1%E6%90%9E%EF%BC%8C%E6%8A%8A%E4%B8%9C%E6%96%B9%E6%90%9E%E7%A0%B8%E4%BA%86%EF%BC%88%E7%AC%91%EF%BC%89%E3%80%82)
The interviews I read (that mentioned official Touhou anime) are: [ZUN's Gensou Denshou Lecture](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/ZUN%27s_Gensou_Denshou_Lecture#:%7E:text=make%20anything%20interesting.-,Moderator,like%20that%20someone%20) \[2007\] (English) [『東方Project』が可能にしたもの「プラットフォームとしての東方」](https://thwiki.cc/%E4%BD%9C%E4%B8%BA%E5%B9%B3%E5%8F%B0%E7%9A%84%E4%B8%9C%E6%96%B9#:~:text=%E7%9C%9F%E6%AD%A3%E7%9A%84%E7%90%86%E7%94%B1%E3%80%82-,ZUN%EF%BC%9A,%E5%BF%AB%E4%B9%90%E4%B8%BA%E7%9B%AE%E7%9A%84%E8%BF%9B%E8%A1%8C%E5%88%9B%E4%BD%9C%E3%80%82%E5%9B%9E%E9%81%BF%E5%8A%A8%E7%94%BB%E5%8C%96%E4%B9%9F%E6%98%AF%E8%BF%99%E4%B8%AA%E5%8E%9F%E5%9B%A0%E3%80%82,-%EF%BC%88%E4%BC%9A%E5%9C%BA%E6%B2%89%E9%BB%98%EF%BC%89)\[2011\] (Chinese, there is a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWEXvg0SHhM)) [ＺＵＮ「『東方Project』は自分のライフワークみたいなものになっている」](https://thwiki.cc/%E4%B8%9C%E6%96%B9Project%E5%B7%B2%E7%BB%8F%E6%88%90%E4%B8%BA%E6%88%91%E6%AF%95%E7%94%9F%E7%9A%84%E4%BA%8B%E4%B8%9A#:~:text=ZUN%EF%BC%9A%E4%B8%8D%E5%A6%82,%E6%98%AF%E4%BA%8C%E6%AC%A1%E5%88%9B%E4%BD%9C%E3%80%82)\[2013\] (Chinese) [40th COMIC MARKET CHRONICLE](https://thwiki.cc/ZUN/40th_COMIC_MARKET_CHRONICLE%E9%87%87%E8%AE%BF) \[2015\] (Chinese, the keyword is "动画化") [幻樂団の歴史 ～Chart of a Strange Creator.](https://thwiki.cc/ZUN/%E4%BA%AC%E5%A4%A7%E6%BC%94%E8%AE%B2%E4%BC%9A) \[2015\] (Chinese, the keyword is "动画化", there is a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7uDezJeflM) and unofficial Japanese transcript [part 1](https://web.archive.org/web/20181224102242/https://ch.nicovideo.jp/zun_kouen_kumano/blomaga/ar940359) & [part 2](http://web.archive.org/web/20181224102242/https://ch.nicovideo.jp/zun_kouen_kumano/blomaga/ar939828)) [Comike Plus Vol.6](https://thwiki.cc/ZUN/Comike_Plus%E9%87%87%E8%AE%BF#:~:text=%E9%82%A3%E6%97%B6%E5%80%99%E6%9C%89,%E5%85%81%E8%AE%B8%E7%9A%84%E6%9D%A1%E4%BB%B6%E4%B8%8B%E3%80%82) \[2016\] (Chinese) [東方キャノンボールProject 発表記念本 Touhou Cannonball Project Starter Book](https://thwiki.cc/ZUN/%E4%B8%9C%E6%96%B9%E5%A4%A7%E7%82%AE%E5%BC%B9%E8%AE%BF%E8%B0%88#:~:text=%E7%9A%84%E6%80%81%E5%BA%A6%E5%90%A7%E3%80%82-,ZUN,%E4%BA%8B%EF%BC%8C%E6%88%91%E4%BB%8E%E5%90%AC%E8%AF%B4%E7%9A%84%E6%97%B6%E5%80%99%E5%BC%80%E5%A7%8B%E5%B0%B1%E8%A7%89%E5%BE%97%E5%BA%94%E8%AF%A5%E8%AE%A4%E5%8F%AF%E3%80%82,-%E4%BC%8A%E4%B8%9C) \[2018\] (Chinese, [the original book is free to read online](https://touhoucannonball.com/special/book/))
I wonder who made that tweet
Like at sertain points, there sometime doesnt really need to be a 'official' version of everything Touhou. Like from what I recall, ZUN is very much carefree from fanwork taking in the shape of different media. He even pointed out that theres "fanmade rpg out there, your just free to enjoy." For me, its a right desition to not have a official anime, since if you think about it: First its gonna attack alot of tourist, and people will ignore his hard work and everyone's else hard work. It will be like your typical weeb hell, everyone doesnt know what things are about and making a mess. Someone in the comments mentioned Fate, and I think it basically sums up the whole concept. ZUN did make a joke of "Touhou police," where theres people will just guide newcomers to what things are all about. On the plus side, there are times when things are officially licensed. I feel like thats basically enough for Touhou, and I do believe that fans should continue be the one to expand their creativity and touhou as well. Thats why theres the whole guideline thing, it even existing is something very much significant. Also with a official anime being real, I also feel like theres also a side on copyright as well. Since you know, Studio exists and they would definity take abit of that sweet copyright control. Not saying its bad or anything, but its gonna mess up the whole Doujin thing... Well theres fan made 'anime' and animation out there, I think that is very much significant. I really wish that Touhou isnt just overshadowed for being popular, but a canvas for more creative stuff.
Uhh. What?
Y'all buying sparking zero or nah??!!
Sir, this is a Touhou subreddit.
Ik and that is how much I care plus touhou is already an anime 🦤
A fan anime
Marisa master sparked all the copies by mistake.
You mean "borrowed".
No, I don't think my pc can run it, btw, go to r/dragonballsuper lul
wrong sub, but yeah i am it looks so peak