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'''Unmarked spoilers below.'''
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[[AC:FridgeBrilliance]]
* Day stages won't work in ''Immaterial and Missing Power'' if someone is playing as Remilia. Think about that for a second. She's a vampire.
** Same thing in ''Scarlet Weather Rhapsody'' and ''Hisoutensoku'', but even better in the latter: day stages won't work unless Remilia has a parasol (her unique system card, which provides a projectile-eating shield when activated) in her deck.
** Actually, in ''Scarlet Weather Rhapsody'', there are no day and night stage versions due to the weather system. When either (or [[MirrorMatch both]]) players choose Remilia, the match is played on one of the two indoor stages, Patchouli's Library or Scarlet Devil Mansion Foyer, with BGM for the chosen stage playing. [[FridgeLogic Strangely]], Remilia can't fight on Iku's sea of clouds stage, even though it's dark and there's little to no sunlight (or visible weather effects) there. The situation gets even weirder in ''Hisoutensoku'', where Remi is allowed to fight on yet another stage without the aforementioned parasol card. Illogically, it's not Yuyuko's garden (turned into a night stage in ''Hisoutensoku'' due to some bullets being hard to see with snow in the background in ''SWR''). No, it's another indoor stage... a [[InsaneTrollLogic nuclear fusion reactor core!]] [[FlatWhat What?]]
*** So she can't handle the sun over the earth, but she can handle the one under the earth. [[FlatWhat Double what.]]
*** Vampires can't handle sunlight when it's a sign of life. However, "scientific" UV radiation often doesn't affect thematic vampires for whom sunlight is anathema because it represents life. Plus, the artificial solar power is from a dead god consumed by a hell raven. No thematic opposition there.
*** Remember, OurVampiresAreDifferent.
*** Well, in her win quote against Okuu she states that she ''rather dislikes the sun'', and both Okuu ''and'' Remilia have their beaten-up portraits shown. So while it's possible that UV radiation ''might'' be harmful for her, it's likely that the radiation from the core is not enough compared to the true sun. Still makes little sense why she would be allowed to play on this particular stage, but yeah, OurVampiresAreDifferent.
*** There's also the factor that ZUN is known to be a ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' fan, and Vampires in that series are weak to UV Lights. It would make sense if he carried that over as a weakness for ''Touhou'' Vampires.
* Nue Houjuu's theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMXaJvxGAxo "Heian Alien"]], almost sounds like Flandre Scarlet's theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyC5eWJhCr8&feature=related "U.N Owen Was Her?"]]. I didn't really understand why it almost sounds like Flandre's, than it hit me - she's a Nue, that's what she ''wants'' you to hear. It's an illusion of Flandre, just like Nue makes the heroines ''think'' those flying objects are shaped like flying-plate styled [=UFOs.=] Even the Extra Stage theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUDqOIBY9FA UFO "Romance in the Night Sky"]], can be an illusion, too. -@/PMiller1
** So Nue is {{Troll}}ing the players. [[BreakingTheFourthWall Surprised?]] Kogasa just broke the fourth wall with the word "Surprise" on the screen when she showed up earlier as the midboss. Nue took advantage of the break to play Flan's theme. -{{@/Sk8torchic}}
* When I think about it deeply, Suwako's childishness in both behavior and appearance as according to fanwork portrayals nets some serious FridgeBrilliance points. She no longer has a kingdom to look after, and Kanako's taken over the shrine. As gods are capable of at least partial control over their appearance, and it's probably likely that reducing your physical form to that of a child saves on divine power, she chooses to downsize her body. Furthermore, as she was content to fade away as according to her profile, she probably let herself go in terms of seriousness and responsibilities, so she becomes more childish as a result. Chances are that if she feels the need to get serious, she'll suddenly stop goofing around childishly and bring out her full divine might. -@/AceOfScarabs
* Another piece of delicious Fridge Brilliance I have concerns [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Flandre]] [[TykeBomb Scarlet]]. Comparing various pieces of canonical information on her, I have understood why she willingly stays at home in the SDM. Basically, Flandre is able to understand that she may lose control over her temper or passions and end up destroying things she actually cares for, so she's willing to stay somewhere safe where things won't upset her easily. This is remarkable maturity for an unstable little vampire girl, which shows that she may yet become more stable! -@/AceOfScarabs
** On another tangent, there's a pretty good reason why Flandre and Koishi are often partnered in fanart: Koishi's power is manipulating the subconscious, which is why she can minimize Flandre's urges to destroy. ~ @/{{Nitramy}}
** Semi confirmed in the Chireikeiden manga, as opposed to the fandom Canon Flan doesn't really try to break out.
* ZUN's observation that Sakuya Izayoi must be able to control space as well as time makes perfect sense, even if his reasoning is highly suspect. Since her main power is freezing time, she'd have to be able to control space to do little things like [[RequiredSecondaryPowers move and breathe]] when time is stopped and everything else, including the air around her, is frozen in place. This also justifies her [[KnifeNut knife-filled]] {{Hammerspace}}.
** Adding to that, her eyes become red when she's manipulating time isn't a random or cool point, it's probably the Doppler effect happening due to the space between her eyes and the opponent's changing, thus changing the wavelength of the light. (Which still makes it super cool, though.)
* In ''Silent Sinner in Blue'', Reimu provides an exposition that explains that Shinto gods are able to infinitely split their spirits, but in the cases of Suwako and Kanako, gods who still retain their earthly bodies, the spirit can split while the original body stays the same. Fast forward to 12.3, in which Sanae can call upon Suwako as an assist against ''Suwako herself'', and suddenly what would normally be FridgeLogic makes ''perfect sense.''
** Of course, for those who don't really know much beyond the games, Suwako herself confirms this in her win dialogue against herself. -@/{{TARDISES}}
* Parsee's PointyEars can be justified as [[InvokedTrope body modification, or simply fakes]] - she's jealous of the cooler-looking inhuman youkai, and trying to imitate them.
* Satori not being into fighting makes perfect sense because of her mind-reading power; she'd sense the pain her enemies were in when she hurt them. She'd rather try to frighten away hostiles or intruders, as she does to the player character.
* The name of the one-man team ZUN formed, Shanghai Alice, describes the nature of Gensokyo - it's a fantastic wonderland set in the far east.
* At first, I didn't give it a lot of thought about why the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' parody, ''VideoGame/MegaMari'', has Marisa as the protagonist. After all, she is the protagonist in many other games of this sort. Then it hit me: Marisa has a tendency to, ahem, "[[KleptomaniacHero borrow]]" techniques and magic from enemies she fights. What does that remind you of? Yep, MegaManning. -@/{{Fubu72}}
* When Flandre is introduced, she breaks the fourth wall. She breaks the fourth wall thanks to her power to break anything. -@/{{matteste}}
* When listening to Flandre's stage theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV16HghvnC4 "The Centennial Festival for Magical Girls"]], I always assumed the sudden switch in mood, and chimes, were due to the title. And then I suddenly realized... Flandre's crystal wings would sound like chimes. And you're going through her basement. She's stalking you throughout the entire stage, and only appears to you once she thinks you're weak enough to kill and eat. -RenaTheArchmage
* Most of the characters in this series wear hats. Somewhere in Gensokyo, there must be a [[Literature/AliceInWonderland haberdasher, and he's probably quite insane]]. ~@/{{Specialist290}}
** There is a {{doujin}} that has Zun as a "[[http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/1002881 villain]]", and he's called "The Mad Hatter." So at least one Japanese person agrees with you.
* At first, I, like many other fans thought that Kaguya and Mokou should've gotten over their rivalry a long time ago. After finally learning what Kaguya's ability was actually capable of doing, it's entirely possible that Kaguya used her powers on Mokou in order for Mokou's hatred of her to last forever. -@/{{raigakuren}}
** If true, this would make Kaguya the biggest jerkass in the series.
*** She's gotta do ''something'' for "fun", as would Mokou. That rivalry was suiting them just fine!
* The title of the extra stage theme from Imperishable Night is "Extend Ash ~ Hourai Victim". The first part can seem a bit nonsensical, at least until you think about it. What word flashes over the screen when you get an extra life? ''Extend''. And phoenixes gain life from their ''ashes''. -SoneAnna
* This might be a stretch, but in Letty's theme, "Crystallized Silver", in intervals there occurs a bleep sound that sounds like a cat. Who is the next stage's midboss and boss? Chen! She was watching you from afar.
* Koishi's 3rd eye is blue, the color of blood without oxygen.
** Er, well... blood doesn't actually turn blue without oxygen, but yes, veins do appear blue when viewed through the skin because of a lack of oxygen. So the point's still valid.
* In ''Silent Sinner in Blue'', Yorihime sends Sakuya's knives back towards her, and she ends up boxed in by them and has to surrender. This is doubly funny if you've played ''[=EoSD=]'' - boxing you in is what almost all of Sakuya's attack patterns are ''designed'' to do.
* The BossSubtitles characters get in ''Wild and Horned Hermit'' tend to be much less flattering than the ones they get in the games. (e.g. Sanae gets "Shallow and thoughtless human" instead of "Deified human of the wind"). Well, Kasen is known to be rather judgemental, isn't she? They probably represent ''her'' opinion of the various folks she meets.
** This is pretty much supported by the fact that only one character in the manga gets a purely descriptive title. That character is, as you may have guessed, Kasen herself.
*** Want to know the first hint that things at the end of Chapter 49.5 of ''Wild and Horned Hermit'' are not as bad as they seem? The character title for Oni Kasen, the form she doesn't want to keep, ''is a critique.''
* ZUN says that when Reimu uses Fantasy Heaven, she can't be beaten by any method; one might think that one of the many powerful characters could just warp reality and win against her that way. However, remember that they are [[RealityWarper Reality Warpers]]... then how the hell do you warp something that's ''outside'' of reality? She simply is out of reach. -@/{{matteste}}
** Take reality itself and attempt to wrap it around her and drag her bubble of nonreality existence back into reality? -nedben
*** -would not be entierly unlike attempting to catch a BarrierWarrior surrounding himself with an AntiMagic field by throwing confinement spells at him. The warrior is not very likely to be impressed by the effort.
*** It'd be more like using confinement spells on the field itself, instead of on the individual that the field is protecting. Or like throwing a net over them, field and all.
*** Point still stands: [[NoSell Neither the warrior nor the field are going to be in the least bit affected by the effort.]]
*** Besides, one of the effects of floating is that Reimu 'floats' through life (allowing her to meander aimlessly through an entire Incident, beating up everyone she meets along the way, and still eventually get to the perpetrator). So she's unlikely to get caught in such a trap in the first place, as she'd just float away from anything trying to ensnare her.
* Next time you're playing ''Perfect Cherry Blossom'' on Hard or lower, take a close look at the progression of "Blue Sign: Benevolent French Dolls." The bullets start out blue, become white when they reverse direction and multiply, then turn red when they do it again. Blue, white, and red? How about ''bleu, blanc, et rouge'', the colors of the French flag? -@/{{Linhasxoc}}
* [[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Memento_in_Strict_Sense/Monologue Akyuu's monologue]] tells that youkai don't eat humans anymore, so when Rumia asks if she can eat Reimu, she's following that saying "asking doesn't offend".
* In ''Hopeless Masquerade'', one might think that all these background characters are only for ContinuityCavalcade purposes; however, since this game is based around popularity, it gets kinda hard to get more popular if you don't have a crowd to view the spectacle. -@/{{matteste}}
* ''Symposium of Post-Mysticism'' reveals that Yamame finds the stressed visitors of Byakuren's temple to be particularly delectable. ''Stress makes you more prone to illness.'' Which also means that if you get plagued by Yamame, what's going on is that she's using the malady to steal a bit of your vitality, kind of like a mosquito or lamprey.
* In most games, Stage 4 is notorious for a DifficultySpike compared to the first three stages. Then look again at when our main heroines, Reimu and Marisa, became bosses. They were always ''Stage 4 bosses'' (excluding ''Phantasmagoria'' and fighting games). That means Stage 4 is hard because it's when things are starting to match our heroines' abilities. The previous stages were just warm-ups to them.
* Reimu's donation box is always empty, and the shrine never gets any worshipers. So how does Reimu survive? Gensokyo is a place where the unbelievable is made manifest, so a failed shrine somehow providing a comfortable living for its miko is perfectly logical. -@/UmbraFractus
* Both characters and players have wondered what Nitori is doing in ''Hopeless Masquerade,'' considering its plot revolves around competition between religions. It makes more sense when you consider that in most modern religious disputes, science is often a major player, even when it's not [[MagicVersusScience an outright antagonist]]. -@/UmbraFractus
* [[DummiedOut Rin Satsuki]] is speculated by many that she was supposed to be a kirin. Look at her name, in Japanese order: Satsu'''[[MeaningfulName ki Rin]]'''.
** It helps that "su" in Japanese is often pronounced so quickly that it becomes a barely perceptible "s" sound, which helps highlight "ki" even more.
* Many wonder why [[AllMonksknowKungFu Byakuren]] is a much more physical fighter in ''Hopeless Masquerade''. Before she was sealed away, she was a Priestess of Bishamonten, a ''war god''.
** Her profile in ''UFO'' did mention that she specializes in body-enhancing (as in strength, speed, or durability) magic.
* Marisa is described as hard-working and always trying out new spells, while Reimu is BrilliantButLazy. This is reflected in the games from ''Mountain of Faith'' onwards. In each game, Marisa always get some new, non-orthodox shot-types (or new versions of her old shot-types, in the case of ''Ten Desires''), while Reimu always sticks to her Homing Amulet and Persuasion Needle most of the time.
** It's been even reflected throughout the majority of the series. Reimu's shot types are either {{Spread Shot}}s or homing shots, two shot types that allow the player to strike everywhere with minimal movement and effort. She's also slow, to balance out her property of being able to hit most of the screen while staying in one place. Marisa's shot types are more linear and precise. Not only does she, as a result, have to be more productive and move around to hit targets, she's also fast-moving, making her well-suited for that requirement.
* One might wonder why, despite all of Seija's trickery as a stage 5 boss in ''Double Dealing Character'', the heroine comments that she was surprisingly easy after the fact. That may be because their perspective never actually changes; they still look in her direction, it's just the player's view that's changed. From their perspective, it's true; her spells are very mundane.
** Her shot type in ''Impossible Spell Card'' does more damage the closer you are to the boss, when in a BulletHell game, it's typically suggested to keep your distance. But considering who she is...
* It's always upset me how rarely Reimu is depicted cosplaying in fan works compared to other characters, despite her being the most popular overall. But it does make sense, given how Reimu is an honest type of person while, say, Marisa, who cosplays much more often, is a known liar.
* Spellcard Suika is [[BreatherLevel one of the easiest]] in ''Impossible Spell Card'', [[SelfImposedChallenge even if you do not use items]]. The game is based on the idea of breaking the rules, and Suika WillNotTellALie.
** This is even easier if you use the doll as a passive item. The doll gives you [[SuperStrength Super Strength]], and Suika is [[WillfullyWeak deliberately suppressing her true power]]. -@/{{Andyzero}}
* The Aki sisters being...sisters makes even more sense when you realize their domains are the same thing, but for different species. It's not just autumn. Why do leaves turn brown? The tree is harvesting the nutrients into their trunks for storage for the winter; just like how people harvest crops and store them. (A feast was one of the ways ancient people stored food; eat a lot of it in case storage goes bad, then you've got fat for the winter, if nothing else.) Shizuha would get more respect if there were "tree"-based youkai or dryads in Gensokyo. (Flower-based Youkai like Yuuka don't care; plus sunflowers are annual, they only live one year, so surviving the winter is not an issue; it's their seeds that come up the next spring.)
* The Scarlet Team and the Netherworld Team fighting Reimu and Marisa, respectively, doesn't make too much sense at first. Then you realize those previously mentioned teams were former adversaries whose members were previously defeated by them in their previous journeys.
* Most of Koishi's spellcards in ''Hopeless Masquerade'' have her being impulsive and careless as normal, except for one: "Suppression: 'Super-Ego'", where she slips into a TroubledFetalPosition. Why is this? Well, think about Koishi's backstory for a second: she closed her Third Eye so she wouldn't have to read minds anymore, but this also made her unable to think rationally. In other words, ''she's suppressing her super-ego''; the spellcard is a reference to her origins, and during the spellcard it's almost as if she's trying to force her super-ego back down. Indeed, the sudden reemergence of all those suppressed emotions [[MySkullRunnethOver is not going]] [[HopeIsScary to be pleasant]]. [=-SLthePyro=]
* Cirno is typically associated with a 9 in a circle. In [[{{Literature/TheDivineComedy}} Dante's Inferno]], the ninth circle of Hell is presented as an icy prison for its inhabitants.
** Same goes for Mai. Her personality and the title of her theme music may be a reference to the ninth circle of Hell, which represents treacherous sin with the frozen river named Cocytus, where the biblical traitor Judas Iscariot is being tortured for all eternity.
* I always thought that the songs present in ''[=PoFV=]'' sounded a bit... empty, for lack of a better expression, as if channels were missing from them. Then I actually played the game and realised this might be intentional. At any given moment, the sound effects will make twice the amount of noise made in one BulletHell. If the music had been as elaborate as it tends to be in the other games, it would all probably sound like a cluttered mess. While I still prefer certain covers, it now makes sense why ZUN would write them like he did.
* Junko has, contrary to almost all other named characters, no expository BossSubtitles. This is because she has purified herself to the point where "Junko" is all she is. Clownpiece's subtitle, "Fairy of Hell", is just a direct description of what she is with no additional flair whatsoever. Junko has purified her, too.
* Hecatia threw in her support to Junko because Chang'e's husband apparently killed Apollo along with Junko's son. Hecate is traditionally an aspect of the goddess Artemis, Apollo's ''twin sister''. Junko isn't the only woman out to avenge a family member.
** And why is she not here as Artemis, or perhaps Selene, her actual moon-focused aspect? It's quite possible the trauma of losing Apollo (who she loved dearly despite their occasional spat), combined with her anger towards the Lunarians (who could be considered her subjects, in a way), caused the goddess to abandon those two faces and wholly become the hell-goddess of magic. Depending on when they first met, Junko's influence probably helped that along, too.
** Why would a character based on a Greek goddess even be present in an ''Eastern'' paradise? Turns out [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism Hellenistic Greece had a significant influence on early Buddhism]]. Furthermore, some Japanese gods can trace their origins to Hellenistic Greece, such as [[http://www.bythegods.net/post/592667792 the Shinto wind god Fujin having originated as the Greek god Boreas]].
* Why do the Lunarian and moon rabbit bosses of ''Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom'' know how to use Spell Cards? It's very likely that Yorihime introduced the concept to the Lunarians at large following the events of ''Silent Sinner in Blue'', and the "Eagle Ravi" Earth Recon Unit was likely watching over Gensokyo for a while as they made preparations.
* Why is Koishi so friendly in demeanor despite closing her third eye and being emotionless? Because of her condition, Koishi acts upon her desires alone, and prior to closing her third eye, she wanted to make friends, so she acts fairly friendly despite most of the time feeling nothing behind it.
* If one really thinks about it, the series' use of the UnreliableNarrator makes a whole lot of sense when looked at from the narrative as a whole. Namely that it has paradoxes like SchrodingersButterfly and UsefulNotes/SchrodingersCat as its central recurring theme. Remember that those paradoxes only remain as long as they aren't directly observed, and the UnreliableNarrator ties directly into that. If we were ever to know the full truth, then we would observe a state of the paradox and give it form, thus causing it to break down and no longer be a paradox.
* Clownpiece's power is inducing insanity. Since she's also [[ThatOneBoss notoriously difficult]], it's likely she's driven many a player into difficulty-induced rage. Her power [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou affects the player, too]]!
** Many players have noted that the extreme difficulty spike in Easy/Normal that Clownpiece brings along with her doesn't seem to apply with the Hard/Lunatic difficulties, where her patterns act differently and seem generally more consistent with the overall difficulty of the game. Because Clownpiece's power involves inducing insanity, no wonder her patterns are seen as extremely hard on the lower difficulties. However, if you're a pro in tackling the Hard and Lunatic difficulties, you're probably already as insane as her to begin with, so her power has no effect on you.
* In Japanese mythology, satori are typically depicted as apes. However, in Touhou (which, when it comes to animal-like youkai, usually includes at least ''one'' thing that hints at the animal they are based on), Satori and Koishi have no ape-like traits, and mainly just look like normal humans (save for their Third Eyes). However, when you think about it, they are ape-like in a way, because technically, humans ''are'' apes.
* Why are there human spirits native to the Animal Realm in ''Wily Beast and Weakest Creature''? Humans ''are'' animals.
* Sumireko's "Gun Sign '3D Printer Gun'" can't be grazed, even though it's a bullet. Why is this? It's a physical bullet, not a magic one, so the rules don't apply to it.
* At first, it might seem jarring that Eika Ebisu, who is literally a baby, has a battle theme that is full of electric guitars. But when you think about it, Eika's whole "thing" is that she stacks rocks, so it makes sense that her theme would be ''[[{{Pun}} rock]]'' music.
[[AC:FridgeHorror]]
* In ''Phantasmagoria of Flower View'', each character has their own unique ability, such as Reimu's smaller hitbox and Tewi's autobomb when she can only take one more hit. [[LivingToys Medicine's]] is that she won't get hurt if she collides with a spirit. You later find out in her final stage that spirits who do not realise they've died are still trying to use her and possess her. They won't hurt her, because [[NightmareFuel they're trying to do]] [[DemonicPossession something a lot worse.]]
* [[RealityWarper Yukari]] has a habit of bringing people she likes into Gensokyo. And if they don't manage to find the only human village before they are discovered, they will be eaten. No exceptions. In other words, Yukari is behind the disappearance and death of possibly hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Including children. And considering the hands and eyes in her gaps, the ones who died are most likely the lucky ones.
* On the note of Yukari... her abilities. How many boundaries are there that could spell doom? Boundary of fantasy and reality is the quite clear example (and actually is observable in-universe as the Hakurei Barrier), but this troper noticed another, more dangerous boundary: Boundary of real and false vacuum. If she wanted to, she not only could destroy the world, but the entire universe.
** On a more personal level, the cell membrane is itself a boundary. ''Yukari could disrupt this boundary and '''melt a person at the cellular level''''', basically dissolving them into lifeless sludge.
* Yuyuko intended to steal the essence of spring from Gensoukyou and use it to awaken the Saigyou Ayakashi. While it's true that she didn't know that the Ayakashi is an EldritchAbomination, she couldn't have missed that stealing the spring would have plunged Gensoukyou into eternal winter, killing all of the plants and dooming the inhabitants to starvation. And she was EasilyForgiven, just like everyone else.
** The fact that she's EasilyForgiven might have something to do with the fact that she's [[JerkassGods Yukari]]'s friend... ah, the fringe benefits! Plus, Reimu doesn't seem to be exactly dedicated to her job, so it's likely that, after she stopped Yuyuko, she simply didn't care about punishing her. When she gets hit close to home, like in ''SWR'', however...
** Well, it's implied that Yuyuko was intending to give the spring back to Gensokyo once the cherry tree bloomed, actually. She just didn't know the tree was evil.
* Utsuho was essentially a [[ILoveNuclearPower living star]] that intended to TakeOverTheWorld and convert the surface into a blasted hellscape. And even she was EasilyForgiven.
** Utsuho has an excuse, though, since [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity she was driven temporarily mad by the power]] she was given. She wasn't a threat anymore once sense was knocked back into her by the player character. The real problem comes with the person who made her this way, [[JerkassGods Kanako]], who originally intended to use her to create a power plant. While that goal in itself isn't really bad, it doesn't change the fact that the events of ''Subterranean Animism'' wouldn't have happened if she hadn't tried to turn Utsuho into a living nuclear battery.
* About half of the characters' inferred backstories aren't exactly nice. Medicine was abandoned, Reimu was abandoned, Reisen is a traitor to the moon people, Eirin has ''committed cold-blooded murder'', Alice may have wiped out a lot of people/youkai, Sakuya may be a serial killer[[note]]consider the names of many of her spellcards[[/note]]...
* All those cakes and tea and sweets that fanart likes to show the Scarlet sisters enjoying? If you read Flandre's profile provided in ''[=EoSD=]'', it pretty strongly suggests that they all contain human blood.
** Fanart of Sakuya making/enjoying those herself. Blood-drinking serial killer from the moon!
* Stage 3 of ''Ten Desires'' shows the cemetery of the Myouren Temple. The temple was founded only two years before. Yet, that's an extremely large number of graves.
** At least some of the graves have to be older than the cemetary, and have been transported there to help the deceased pass on to the afterlife.
* Gensokyou's existence is bound to Reimu's. Then what would happen if an OmnicidalManiac rolled along and decided to go for Reimu as the most efficient way?
** They'll be killed by Reimu (or Yukari), of course. There's a reason no one dares to disrespect her. (One of them is Fantasy Heaven.)
* Tenshi's theme and apparent origin both reference Bhava-Agra, also known as Naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana. Here's the wiki entry:
-->Naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana or Nevasaññānāsaññāyatana (Tib: 'du shes med 'du shes med min) "Sphere of neither perception nor non-perception". In this sphere the formless beings have gone beyond a mere negation of perception and have attained a liminal state where they do not engage in "perception" (saṃjñā, recognition of particulars by their marks) but are not wholly unconscious. This was the sphere reached by Udraka Rāmaputra (Pāli: Uddaka Rāmaputta), the second of the Buddha's two teachers, who considered it equivalent to enlightenment.
** ZUN has been merciful. The place is clearly at least physical. But it's still a place where everyone around her ''doesn't notice her at all''. Or not notice her, but they certainly aren't giving her attention. That is no place for a child.
*** Well, that would certainly explain her desire for attention.
* In ''Wild and Horned Hermit'', multiple characters drink from Kasen's box, which causes them to become [[BoisterousBruiser as loudmouthed and aggressive as an oni]]. It's implied that [[AxCrazy Yuuka]] was one of them. [[OhCrap Let's hope that nobody got remotely close to her afterwards.]]
* In ''Hopeless Masquerade'', Nitori appears with a shirikodama in hand. It's implied that she got it from a random person in the crowd at the temple. Considering the process by which that sort of thing is obtained...
** Considering the removal tends to be fatal [[note]]one of the inspirations for the kappa myth was the fact that drowning victims were found with enlarged anuses[[/note]], that means she probably killed some random schmuck and ''is still gaining popularity!'' Clearly the poor [[{{Pun}} Butt]] [[ButtMonkey Monkey]] wasn't very popular.
** One of her cards in ''Double Spoiler'' is Kappa "Dried Shirikodama." And this being BulletHell, she has a lot of them... Even Aya wonders how many people were sacrificed to make that many. Hatate just wonders if Nitori's a gourmet since she eats them.
* Seija's personality is always opposite to those around her, so what if she encountered an extremely pure and good character? Would we then have an UltimateEvil on our hands?
** She's already trying to overthrow the society of Gensokyo, so it probably wouldn't be too much worse. Besides which, it wouldn't make her any more dangerous, since that has no bearing on how strong she is.
* Doubling over with Fridge TearJerker: Yamabiko used to be pretty common youkai. When rumors started circulating about how echoes are actually just soundwaves being reflected off surfaces, many humans stopped shouting at the mountains, which has resulted in the death of many yamabiko. Right now, the species are facing extinction... Kyouko is the only yamabiko we've been introduced to so far, but she seems pretty cheerful for a being that might disappear in a PuffOfLogic, so maybe the situation really isn't so bad? ...except... Kyouko is currently a priest in-training at the Buddhist Myouren temple. One of the core teachings in Buddhism is to accept that all worldly things are transitory and, to spare oneself from suffering, let go of one's attachments to the world... Kyouko might be cheerful despite the grave situation the yamabiko are in because she has come to terms with the fact that she, and her entire species, are going to fade away.
* It was said that the reason Koishi can only act subconsciously is because she can't read her own mind. This means that her conscious mind is trapped in an AndIMustScream situation. No wonder Satori didn't follow her example.
* What will happen to Mokou and Kaguya in the future? Hint: the sun will deplete its hydrogen supply, growing big enough to destroy the Earth, then collapse, and then the entire universe will decay as it tends toward maximum entropy. Where does that leave them? Dying and resurrecting in hard vacuum, '''forever!!!'''
** No wonder the Hourai Elixir is taboo...
* ''Wild and Horned Hermit'' reveals that not only objects, but real living creatures and individuals can end up entering Gensokyou if forgotten by those around them. So that brings the question, just how many humans ended up entering Gensokyou by simply being forgotten while still alive?
** Kasen also brings up another point, what if they also ended up forgotten in Gensokyou?
* In ''Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom'', Sagume notes that Marisa is a human... which is fine and all, except Sagume's power is that the opposite of whatever she says comes true. Is Marisa going to turn into a youkai because of this?
** Well, magicians in there aren't really "human". So that's probably what she meant.
*** Except that's not how Sagume's ability works. Sagume's ability only works on situations of events, so if her ability really worked that way, then some bits of her dialogue (e.g "You're terribly strong.", "The people of the moon aren't aware of any of this, though.") would've completely changed the storyline, so your point is null and void.
* Yukari often mentions that youkai are getting their food from somewhere in the outside world. Well, there happens to be a very convenient place for youkai to go hunting in Japan: Aokigahara. Dark, isolated, possibly outright haunted, and full of both humans who have given up on living, and corpses of varying freshness to suit nearly any palate, the "Suicide Forest" is the perfect place for youkai to go meat shopping.
** Also brilliant in a sickening way, since the more corpses and suicidal souls the youkai carry off, the more the Japanese government can suppress the true numbers of those who vanish into the Sea of Trees. And given [[TheChessmaster Yukari]], this is quite possibly intentional, and maybe even a deal she specifically arranged.
* More like Fridge {{Squick}}. Murasa uses water droplets as her danmaku. However, in some attacks she's spraying some yellow colored water droplets. Is she shooting you with pee?
* Yukari's "gapping in trains" move in ''Hisentoku''., Every time she uses it, she kills hundreds of confused and terrified people.
** The spellcard in question twice uses the word "Abandoned", and the trains themselves are covered in cobwebs and broken windows. These are not trains that are being used by people.
* In Chapter 49.5 of ''Wild and Horned Hermit'', Ibaraki-Douji's Arm summons the skeletons of all of her (and by extension pre-hermit Kasen's) past victims, and there are enough of them that they can completely bury Reimu. That's quite a high body count...
* Kasen's plan in the final few chapters of ''Wild and Horned Hermit'' involving Reimu being banished to Hell may seem a bit extreme, but consider how doing so essentially left Ibaraki-Douji's Arm's only option [[ToServeMan for food as the one person who could beat her]]. Imagine if she had been released on the surface instead and was savvy enough to realize that she couldn't win and went somewhere like the Human Village to get something to eat... Good call there Kasen.
* As pointed out by [[https://www.deviantart.com/fullhitpoints/art/Mystic-Square-Explained-671107226 this comic]], ''Mystic Square'' is essentially about the heroines beating up tourists who are either minding their own business or are trying to protect their friends and family from being terrorized. [[NonLethalWarfare Spellcard rules]] would make this fine and dandy, but there's no indication that spellcard rules ''even existed'' in the PC-98 games, with some lines of dialogue ("Genocide is just a game!" "When you meet your friend in the afterlife, tell her I said hi!") implying that the battles have the potential to end with death. Even worse, the final fight against Shinki has a city burning in the background, meaning that hundreds could have died and the survivors would be left homeless. [[KarmaHoudini And the heroines get away with all of this.]]
** Thankfully, this is [[NightmareRetardant slightly undercut]] by virtue of Shinki being a god, and while she was sorely winded, she was not injured or killed. Given Makai and its people are her creations, she could theoretically restore the ruined city once she regains her strength, and pull the souls of any casualties back across the Sanzu to resurrect them. But this still leaves everyone with the trauma of getting pummeled by two little kids, an insane ghost, and whatever the hell they think Yuuka happens to be. Hope Makai's got therapists!
* According to the spellcard laws, "If victorious against a human, you may not kill them." ''A human''. As in, ''youkai don't get this privilege''. If you're a youkai without ResurrectiveImmortality who has gotten on the bad side of someone who is AxCrazy, sucks to be you!
* In the bad endings of ''Wily Beast and Weakest Creature'', Yachie threatens to execute your player character for failure, only changing her mind after your character begs for another chance. Marisa, fanon pairings and relationships aside, is probably not the most dangerously well-connected human to have sleep with the fishes, and her most powerful canon friend (Reimu) is also unable to resist Yachie's CompellingVoice. This means reprisal for the Black-White Magician's death is severely unlikely, unless you want to assume Mima would suddenly appear after years of silence to defend or avenge her former apprentice. And while killing Youmu might potentially anger Yuyuko enough to walk into Yachie's office and snuff out her life with a glare, it's highly likely the girl will just "wake up" in Hakugyokurou as a full ghost, meaning Yuyuko ultimately may not even care. But then we come to Reimu, Gensokyo's BarrierMaiden. The Animal World probably isn't covered by the Great Hakurei Barrier, so one can understand how Yachie doesn't seem to give a damn about how it would collapse if Reimu died. But even putting fanworks and fanon relationships aside, there is no way attempting to murder Reimu would not bring the likes of Kasen, Yukari, and possibly even Okina out of the woodwork, given Reimu's survival is required for Gensokyo's existence. Three very powerful women, who most sane people would consider it suicidal to provoke or oppose. And we already know Yukari, at least, is willing to commit murder against those who threaten Gensokyo's integrity, as Tenshi can attest. Even trying to so much as lay a hand on Reimu would almost certainly end in Yachie suffering a very quick, and likely gruesome death. To say nothing of the power vacuum this death would cause in the Animal World...
* Shions entire existence up until she met Tenshi is nothing but misfortune, even her own sister treats her like crap, that much is obvious but think about it a bit further and you realise shes a young relatively attracitve girl, desperate for money(or food or just a place to sleep) and is plagued by bad luck, one does not need a lot of imagination to imagine the result of that combination
----
[[AC:FridgeBrilliance]]
* Day stages won't work in ''Immaterial and Missing Power'' if someone is playing as Remilia. Think about that for a second. She's a vampire.
** Same thing in ''Scarlet Weather Rhapsody'' and ''Hisoutensoku'', but even better in the latter: day stages won't work unless Remilia has a parasol (her unique system card, which provides a projectile-eating shield when activated) in her deck.
** Actually, in ''Scarlet Weather Rhapsody'', there are no day and night stage versions due to the weather system. When either (or [[MirrorMatch both]]) players choose Remilia, the match is played on one of the two indoor stages, Patchouli's Library or Scarlet Devil Mansion Foyer, with BGM for the chosen stage playing. [[FridgeLogic Strangely]], Remilia can't fight on Iku's sea of clouds stage, even though it's dark and there's little to no sunlight (or visible weather effects) there. The situation gets even weirder in ''Hisoutensoku'', where Remi is allowed to fight on yet another stage without the aforementioned parasol card. Illogically, it's not Yuyuko's garden (turned into a night stage in ''Hisoutensoku'' due to some bullets being hard to see with snow in the background in ''SWR''). No, it's another indoor stage... a [[InsaneTrollLogic nuclear fusion reactor core!]] [[FlatWhat What?]]
*** So she can't handle the sun over the earth, but she can handle the one under the earth. [[FlatWhat Double what.]]
*** Vampires can't handle sunlight when it's a sign of life. However, "scientific" UV radiation often doesn't affect thematic vampires for whom sunlight is anathema because it represents life. Plus, the artificial solar power is from a dead god consumed by a hell raven. No thematic opposition there.
*** Remember, OurVampiresAreDifferent.
*** Well, in her win quote against Okuu she states that she ''rather dislikes the sun'', and both Okuu ''and'' Remilia have their beaten-up portraits shown. So while it's possible that UV radiation ''might'' be harmful for her, it's likely that the radiation from the core is not enough compared to the true sun. Still makes little sense why she would be allowed to play on this particular stage, but yeah, OurVampiresAreDifferent.
*** There's also the factor that ZUN is known to be a ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' fan, and Vampires in that series are weak to UV Lights. It would make sense if he carried that over as a weakness for ''Touhou'' Vampires.
* Nue Houjuu's theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMXaJvxGAxo "Heian Alien"]], almost sounds like Flandre Scarlet's theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyC5eWJhCr8&feature=related "U.N Owen Was Her?"]]. I didn't really understand why it almost sounds like Flandre's, than it hit me - she's a Nue, that's what she ''wants'' you to hear. It's an illusion of Flandre, just like Nue makes the heroines ''think'' those flying objects are shaped like flying-plate styled [=UFOs.=] Even the Extra Stage theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUDqOIBY9FA UFO "Romance in the Night Sky"]], can be an illusion, too. -@/PMiller1
** So Nue is {{Troll}}ing the players. [[BreakingTheFourthWall Surprised?]] Kogasa just broke the fourth wall with the word "Surprise" on the screen when she showed up earlier as the midboss. Nue took advantage of the break to play Flan's theme. -{{@/Sk8torchic}}
* When I think about it deeply, Suwako's childishness in both behavior and appearance as according to fanwork portrayals nets some serious FridgeBrilliance points. She no longer has a kingdom to look after, and Kanako's taken over the shrine. As gods are capable of at least partial control over their appearance, and it's probably likely that reducing your physical form to that of a child saves on divine power, she chooses to downsize her body. Furthermore, as she was content to fade away as according to her profile, she probably let herself go in terms of seriousness and responsibilities, so she becomes more childish as a result. Chances are that if she feels the need to get serious, she'll suddenly stop goofing around childishly and bring out her full divine might. -@/AceOfScarabs
* Another piece of delicious Fridge Brilliance I have concerns [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Flandre]] [[TykeBomb Scarlet]]. Comparing various pieces of canonical information on her, I have understood why she willingly stays at home in the SDM. Basically, Flandre is able to understand that she may lose control over her temper or passions and end up destroying things she actually cares for, so she's willing to stay somewhere safe where things won't upset her easily. This is remarkable maturity for an unstable little vampire girl, which shows that she may yet become more stable! -@/AceOfScarabs
** On another tangent, there's a pretty good reason why Flandre and Koishi are often partnered in fanart: Koishi's power is manipulating the subconscious, which is why she can minimize Flandre's urges to destroy. ~ @/{{Nitramy}}
** Semi confirmed in the Chireikeiden manga, as opposed to the fandom Canon Flan doesn't really try to break out.
* ZUN's observation that Sakuya Izayoi must be able to control space as well as time makes perfect sense, even if his reasoning is highly suspect. Since her main power is freezing time, she'd have to be able to control space to do little things like [[RequiredSecondaryPowers move and breathe]] when time is stopped and everything else, including the air around her, is frozen in place. This also justifies her [[KnifeNut knife-filled]] {{Hammerspace}}.
** Adding to that, her eyes become red when she's manipulating time isn't a random or cool point, it's probably the Doppler effect happening due to the space between her eyes and the opponent's changing, thus changing the wavelength of the light. (Which still makes it super cool, though.)
* In ''Silent Sinner in Blue'', Reimu provides an exposition that explains that Shinto gods are able to infinitely split their spirits, but in the cases of Suwako and Kanako, gods who still retain their earthly bodies, the spirit can split while the original body stays the same. Fast forward to 12.3, in which Sanae can call upon Suwako as an assist against ''Suwako herself'', and suddenly what would normally be FridgeLogic makes ''perfect sense.''
** Of course, for those who don't really know much beyond the games, Suwako herself confirms this in her win dialogue against herself. -@/{{TARDISES}}
* Parsee's PointyEars can be justified as [[InvokedTrope body modification, or simply fakes]] - she's jealous of the cooler-looking inhuman youkai, and trying to imitate them.
* Satori not being into fighting makes perfect sense because of her mind-reading power; she'd sense the pain her enemies were in when she hurt them. She'd rather try to frighten away hostiles or intruders, as she does to the player character.
* The name of the one-man team ZUN formed, Shanghai Alice, describes the nature of Gensokyo - it's a fantastic wonderland set in the far east.
* At first, I didn't give it a lot of thought about why the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' parody, ''VideoGame/MegaMari'', has Marisa as the protagonist. After all, she is the protagonist in many other games of this sort. Then it hit me: Marisa has a tendency to, ahem, "[[KleptomaniacHero borrow]]" techniques and magic from enemies she fights. What does that remind you of? Yep, MegaManning. -@/{{Fubu72}}
* When Flandre is introduced, she breaks the fourth wall. She breaks the fourth wall thanks to her power to break anything. -@/{{matteste}}
* When listening to Flandre's stage theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV16HghvnC4 "The Centennial Festival for Magical Girls"]], I always assumed the sudden switch in mood, and chimes, were due to the title. And then I suddenly realized... Flandre's crystal wings would sound like chimes. And you're going through her basement. She's stalking you throughout the entire stage, and only appears to you once she thinks you're weak enough to kill and eat. -RenaTheArchmage
* Most of the characters in this series wear hats. Somewhere in Gensokyo, there must be a [[Literature/AliceInWonderland haberdasher, and he's probably quite insane]]. ~@/{{Specialist290}}
** There is a {{doujin}} that has Zun as a "[[http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/1002881 villain]]", and he's called "The Mad Hatter." So at least one Japanese person agrees with you.
* At first, I, like many other fans thought that Kaguya and Mokou should've gotten over their rivalry a long time ago. After finally learning what Kaguya's ability was actually capable of doing, it's entirely possible that Kaguya used her powers on Mokou in order for Mokou's hatred of her to last forever. -@/{{raigakuren}}
** If true, this would make Kaguya the biggest jerkass in the series.
*** She's gotta do ''something'' for "fun", as would Mokou. That rivalry was suiting them just fine!
* The title of the extra stage theme from Imperishable Night is "Extend Ash ~ Hourai Victim". The first part can seem a bit nonsensical, at least until you think about it. What word flashes over the screen when you get an extra life? ''Extend''. And phoenixes gain life from their ''ashes''. -SoneAnna
* This might be a stretch, but in Letty's theme, "Crystallized Silver", in intervals there occurs a bleep sound that sounds like a cat. Who is the next stage's midboss and boss? Chen! She was watching you from afar.
* Koishi's 3rd eye is blue, the color of blood without oxygen.
** Er, well... blood doesn't actually turn blue without oxygen, but yes, veins do appear blue when viewed through the skin because of a lack of oxygen. So the point's still valid.
* In ''Silent Sinner in Blue'', Yorihime sends Sakuya's knives back towards her, and she ends up boxed in by them and has to surrender. This is doubly funny if you've played ''[=EoSD=]'' - boxing you in is what almost all of Sakuya's attack patterns are ''designed'' to do.
* The BossSubtitles characters get in ''Wild and Horned Hermit'' tend to be much less flattering than the ones they get in the games. (e.g. Sanae gets "Shallow and thoughtless human" instead of "Deified human of the wind"). Well, Kasen is known to be rather judgemental, isn't she? They probably represent ''her'' opinion of the various folks she meets.
** This is pretty much supported by the fact that only one character in the manga gets a purely descriptive title. That character is, as you may have guessed, Kasen herself.
*** Want to know the first hint that things at the end of Chapter 49.5 of ''Wild and Horned Hermit'' are not as bad as they seem? The character title for Oni Kasen, the form she doesn't want to keep, ''is a critique.''
* ZUN says that when Reimu uses Fantasy Heaven, she can't be beaten by any method; one might think that one of the many powerful characters could just warp reality and win against her that way. However, remember that they are [[RealityWarper Reality Warpers]]... then how the hell do you warp something that's ''outside'' of reality? She simply is out of reach. -@/{{matteste}}
** Take reality itself and attempt to wrap it around her and drag her bubble of nonreality existence back into reality? -nedben
*** -would not be entierly unlike attempting to catch a BarrierWarrior surrounding himself with an AntiMagic field by throwing confinement spells at him. The warrior is not very likely to be impressed by the effort.
*** It'd be more like using confinement spells on the field itself, instead of on the individual that the field is protecting. Or like throwing a net over them, field and all.
*** Point still stands: [[NoSell Neither the warrior nor the field are going to be in the least bit affected by the effort.]]
*** Besides, one of the effects of floating is that Reimu 'floats' through life (allowing her to meander aimlessly through an entire Incident, beating up everyone she meets along the way, and still eventually get to the perpetrator). So she's unlikely to get caught in such a trap in the first place, as she'd just float away from anything trying to ensnare her.
* Next time you're playing ''Perfect Cherry Blossom'' on Hard or lower, take a close look at the progression of "Blue Sign: Benevolent French Dolls." The bullets start out blue, become white when they reverse direction and multiply, then turn red when they do it again. Blue, white, and red? How about ''bleu, blanc, et rouge'', the colors of the French flag? -@/{{Linhasxoc}}
* [[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Memento_in_Strict_Sense/Monologue Akyuu's monologue]] tells that youkai don't eat humans anymore, so when Rumia asks if she can eat Reimu, she's following that saying "asking doesn't offend".
* In ''Hopeless Masquerade'', one might think that all these background characters are only for ContinuityCavalcade purposes; however, since this game is based around popularity, it gets kinda hard to get more popular if you don't have a crowd to view the spectacle. -@/{{matteste}}
* ''Symposium of Post-Mysticism'' reveals that Yamame finds the stressed visitors of Byakuren's temple to be particularly delectable. ''Stress makes you more prone to illness.'' Which also means that if you get plagued by Yamame, what's going on is that she's using the malady to steal a bit of your vitality, kind of like a mosquito or lamprey.
* In most games, Stage 4 is notorious for a DifficultySpike compared to the first three stages. Then look again at when our main heroines, Reimu and Marisa, became bosses. They were always ''Stage 4 bosses'' (excluding ''Phantasmagoria'' and fighting games). That means Stage 4 is hard because it's when things are starting to match our heroines' abilities. The previous stages were just warm-ups to them.
* Reimu's donation box is always empty, and the shrine never gets any worshipers. So how does Reimu survive? Gensokyo is a place where the unbelievable is made manifest, so a failed shrine somehow providing a comfortable living for its miko is perfectly logical. -@/UmbraFractus
* Both characters and players have wondered what Nitori is doing in ''Hopeless Masquerade,'' considering its plot revolves around competition between religions. It makes more sense when you consider that in most modern religious disputes, science is often a major player, even when it's not [[MagicVersusScience an outright antagonist]]. -@/UmbraFractus
* [[DummiedOut Rin Satsuki]] is speculated by many that she was supposed to be a kirin. Look at her name, in Japanese order: Satsu'''[[MeaningfulName ki Rin]]'''.
** It helps that "su" in Japanese is often pronounced so quickly that it becomes a barely perceptible "s" sound, which helps highlight "ki" even more.
* Many wonder why [[AllMonksknowKungFu Byakuren]] is a much more physical fighter in ''Hopeless Masquerade''. Before she was sealed away, she was a Priestess of Bishamonten, a ''war god''.
** Her profile in ''UFO'' did mention that she specializes in body-enhancing (as in strength, speed, or durability) magic.
* Marisa is described as hard-working and always trying out new spells, while Reimu is BrilliantButLazy. This is reflected in the games from ''Mountain of Faith'' onwards. In each game, Marisa always get some new, non-orthodox shot-types (or new versions of her old shot-types, in the case of ''Ten Desires''), while Reimu always sticks to her Homing Amulet and Persuasion Needle most of the time.
** It's been even reflected throughout the majority of the series. Reimu's shot types are either {{Spread Shot}}s or homing shots, two shot types that allow the player to strike everywhere with minimal movement and effort. She's also slow, to balance out her property of being able to hit most of the screen while staying in one place. Marisa's shot types are more linear and precise. Not only does she, as a result, have to be more productive and move around to hit targets, she's also fast-moving, making her well-suited for that requirement.
* One might wonder why, despite all of Seija's trickery as a stage 5 boss in ''Double Dealing Character'', the heroine comments that she was surprisingly easy after the fact. That may be because their perspective never actually changes; they still look in her direction, it's just the player's view that's changed. From their perspective, it's true; her spells are very mundane.
** Her shot type in ''Impossible Spell Card'' does more damage the closer you are to the boss, when in a BulletHell game, it's typically suggested to keep your distance. But considering who she is...
* It's always upset me how rarely Reimu is depicted cosplaying in fan works compared to other characters, despite her being the most popular overall. But it does make sense, given how Reimu is an honest type of person while, say, Marisa, who cosplays much more often, is a known liar.
* Spellcard Suika is [[BreatherLevel one of the easiest]] in ''Impossible Spell Card'', [[SelfImposedChallenge even if you do not use items]]. The game is based on the idea of breaking the rules, and Suika WillNotTellALie.
** This is even easier if you use the doll as a passive item. The doll gives you [[SuperStrength Super Strength]], and Suika is [[WillfullyWeak deliberately suppressing her true power]]. -@/{{Andyzero}}
* The Aki sisters being...sisters makes even more sense when you realize their domains are the same thing, but for different species. It's not just autumn. Why do leaves turn brown? The tree is harvesting the nutrients into their trunks for storage for the winter; just like how people harvest crops and store them. (A feast was one of the ways ancient people stored food; eat a lot of it in case storage goes bad, then you've got fat for the winter, if nothing else.) Shizuha would get more respect if there were "tree"-based youkai or dryads in Gensokyo. (Flower-based Youkai like Yuuka don't care; plus sunflowers are annual, they only live one year, so surviving the winter is not an issue; it's their seeds that come up the next spring.)
* The Scarlet Team and the Netherworld Team fighting Reimu and Marisa, respectively, doesn't make too much sense at first. Then you realize those previously mentioned teams were former adversaries whose members were previously defeated by them in their previous journeys.
* Most of Koishi's spellcards in ''Hopeless Masquerade'' have her being impulsive and careless as normal, except for one: "Suppression: 'Super-Ego'", where she slips into a TroubledFetalPosition. Why is this? Well, think about Koishi's backstory for a second: she closed her Third Eye so she wouldn't have to read minds anymore, but this also made her unable to think rationally. In other words, ''she's suppressing her super-ego''; the spellcard is a reference to her origins, and during the spellcard it's almost as if she's trying to force her super-ego back down. Indeed, the sudden reemergence of all those suppressed emotions [[MySkullRunnethOver is not going]] [[HopeIsScary to be pleasant]]. [=-SLthePyro=]
* Cirno is typically associated with a 9 in a circle. In [[{{Literature/TheDivineComedy}} Dante's Inferno]], the ninth circle of Hell is presented as an icy prison for its inhabitants.
** Same goes for Mai. Her personality and the title of her theme music may be a reference to the ninth circle of Hell, which represents treacherous sin with the frozen river named Cocytus, where the biblical traitor Judas Iscariot is being tortured for all eternity.
* I always thought that the songs present in ''[=PoFV=]'' sounded a bit... empty, for lack of a better expression, as if channels were missing from them. Then I actually played the game and realised this might be intentional. At any given moment, the sound effects will make twice the amount of noise made in one BulletHell. If the music had been as elaborate as it tends to be in the other games, it would all probably sound like a cluttered mess. While I still prefer certain covers, it now makes sense why ZUN would write them like he did.
* Junko has, contrary to almost all other named characters, no expository BossSubtitles. This is because she has purified herself to the point where "Junko" is all she is. Clownpiece's subtitle, "Fairy of Hell", is just a direct description of what she is with no additional flair whatsoever. Junko has purified her, too.
* Hecatia threw in her support to Junko because Chang'e's husband apparently killed Apollo along with Junko's son. Hecate is traditionally an aspect of the goddess Artemis, Apollo's ''twin sister''. Junko isn't the only woman out to avenge a family member.
** And why is she not here as Artemis, or perhaps Selene, her actual moon-focused aspect? It's quite possible the trauma of losing Apollo (who she loved dearly despite their occasional spat), combined with her anger towards the Lunarians (who could be considered her subjects, in a way), caused the goddess to abandon those two faces and wholly become the hell-goddess of magic. Depending on when they first met, Junko's influence probably helped that along, too.
** Why would a character based on a Greek goddess even be present in an ''Eastern'' paradise? Turns out [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism Hellenistic Greece had a significant influence on early Buddhism]]. Furthermore, some Japanese gods can trace their origins to Hellenistic Greece, such as [[http://www.bythegods.net/post/592667792 the Shinto wind god Fujin having originated as the Greek god Boreas]].
* Why do the Lunarian and moon rabbit bosses of ''Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom'' know how to use Spell Cards? It's very likely that Yorihime introduced the concept to the Lunarians at large following the events of ''Silent Sinner in Blue'', and the "Eagle Ravi" Earth Recon Unit was likely watching over Gensokyo for a while as they made preparations.
* Why is Koishi so friendly in demeanor despite closing her third eye and being emotionless? Because of her condition, Koishi acts upon her desires alone, and prior to closing her third eye, she wanted to make friends, so she acts fairly friendly despite most of the time feeling nothing behind it.
* If one really thinks about it, the series' use of the UnreliableNarrator makes a whole lot of sense when looked at from the narrative as a whole. Namely that it has paradoxes like SchrodingersButterfly and UsefulNotes/SchrodingersCat as its central recurring theme. Remember that those paradoxes only remain as long as they aren't directly observed, and the UnreliableNarrator ties directly into that. If we were ever to know the full truth, then we would observe a state of the paradox and give it form, thus causing it to break down and no longer be a paradox.
* Clownpiece's power is inducing insanity. Since she's also [[ThatOneBoss notoriously difficult]], it's likely she's driven many a player into difficulty-induced rage. Her power [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou affects the player, too]]!
** Many players have noted that the extreme difficulty spike in Easy/Normal that Clownpiece brings along with her doesn't seem to apply with the Hard/Lunatic difficulties, where her patterns act differently and seem generally more consistent with the overall difficulty of the game. Because Clownpiece's power involves inducing insanity, no wonder her patterns are seen as extremely hard on the lower difficulties. However, if you're a pro in tackling the Hard and Lunatic difficulties, you're probably already as insane as her to begin with, so her power has no effect on you.
* In Japanese mythology, satori are typically depicted as apes. However, in Touhou (which, when it comes to animal-like youkai, usually includes at least ''one'' thing that hints at the animal they are based on), Satori and Koishi have no ape-like traits, and mainly just look like normal humans (save for their Third Eyes). However, when you think about it, they are ape-like in a way, because technically, humans ''are'' apes.
* Why are there human spirits native to the Animal Realm in ''Wily Beast and Weakest Creature''? Humans ''are'' animals.
* Sumireko's "Gun Sign '3D Printer Gun'" can't be grazed, even though it's a bullet. Why is this? It's a physical bullet, not a magic one, so the rules don't apply to it.
* At first, it might seem jarring that Eika Ebisu, who is literally a baby, has a battle theme that is full of electric guitars. But when you think about it, Eika's whole "thing" is that she stacks rocks, so it makes sense that her theme would be ''[[{{Pun}} rock]]'' music.
[[AC:FridgeHorror]]
* In ''Phantasmagoria of Flower View'', each character has their own unique ability, such as Reimu's smaller hitbox and Tewi's autobomb when she can only take one more hit. [[LivingToys Medicine's]] is that she won't get hurt if she collides with a spirit. You later find out in her final stage that spirits who do not realise they've died are still trying to use her and possess her. They won't hurt her, because [[NightmareFuel they're trying to do]] [[DemonicPossession something a lot worse.]]
* [[RealityWarper Yukari]] has a habit of bringing people she likes into Gensokyo. And if they don't manage to find the only human village before they are discovered, they will be eaten. No exceptions. In other words, Yukari is behind the disappearance and death of possibly hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Including children. And considering the hands and eyes in her gaps, the ones who died are most likely the lucky ones.
* On the note of Yukari... her abilities. How many boundaries are there that could spell doom? Boundary of fantasy and reality is the quite clear example (and actually is observable in-universe as the Hakurei Barrier), but this troper noticed another, more dangerous boundary: Boundary of real and false vacuum. If she wanted to, she not only could destroy the world, but the entire universe.
** On a more personal level, the cell membrane is itself a boundary. ''Yukari could disrupt this boundary and '''melt a person at the cellular level''''', basically dissolving them into lifeless sludge.
* Yuyuko intended to steal the essence of spring from Gensoukyou and use it to awaken the Saigyou Ayakashi. While it's true that she didn't know that the Ayakashi is an EldritchAbomination, she couldn't have missed that stealing the spring would have plunged Gensoukyou into eternal winter, killing all of the plants and dooming the inhabitants to starvation. And she was EasilyForgiven, just like everyone else.
** The fact that she's EasilyForgiven might have something to do with the fact that she's [[JerkassGods Yukari]]'s friend... ah, the fringe benefits! Plus, Reimu doesn't seem to be exactly dedicated to her job, so it's likely that, after she stopped Yuyuko, she simply didn't care about punishing her. When she gets hit close to home, like in ''SWR'', however...
** Well, it's implied that Yuyuko was intending to give the spring back to Gensokyo once the cherry tree bloomed, actually. She just didn't know the tree was evil.
* Utsuho was essentially a [[ILoveNuclearPower living star]] that intended to TakeOverTheWorld and convert the surface into a blasted hellscape. And even she was EasilyForgiven.
** Utsuho has an excuse, though, since [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity she was driven temporarily mad by the power]] she was given. She wasn't a threat anymore once sense was knocked back into her by the player character. The real problem comes with the person who made her this way, [[JerkassGods Kanako]], who originally intended to use her to create a power plant. While that goal in itself isn't really bad, it doesn't change the fact that the events of ''Subterranean Animism'' wouldn't have happened if she hadn't tried to turn Utsuho into a living nuclear battery.
* About half of the characters' inferred backstories aren't exactly nice. Medicine was abandoned, Reimu was abandoned, Reisen is a traitor to the moon people, Eirin has ''committed cold-blooded murder'', Alice may have wiped out a lot of people/youkai, Sakuya may be a serial killer[[note]]consider the names of many of her spellcards[[/note]]...
* All those cakes and tea and sweets that fanart likes to show the Scarlet sisters enjoying? If you read Flandre's profile provided in ''[=EoSD=]'', it pretty strongly suggests that they all contain human blood.
** Fanart of Sakuya making/enjoying those herself. Blood-drinking serial killer from the moon!
* Stage 3 of ''Ten Desires'' shows the cemetery of the Myouren Temple. The temple was founded only two years before. Yet, that's an extremely large number of graves.
** At least some of the graves have to be older than the cemetary, and have been transported there to help the deceased pass on to the afterlife.
* Gensokyou's existence is bound to Reimu's. Then what would happen if an OmnicidalManiac rolled along and decided to go for Reimu as the most efficient way?
** They'll be killed by Reimu (or Yukari), of course. There's a reason no one dares to disrespect her. (One of them is Fantasy Heaven.)
* Tenshi's theme and apparent origin both reference Bhava-Agra, also known as Naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana. Here's the wiki entry:
-->Naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana or Nevasaññānāsaññāyatana (Tib: 'du shes med 'du shes med min) "Sphere of neither perception nor non-perception". In this sphere the formless beings have gone beyond a mere negation of perception and have attained a liminal state where they do not engage in "perception" (saṃjñā, recognition of particulars by their marks) but are not wholly unconscious. This was the sphere reached by Udraka Rāmaputra (Pāli: Uddaka Rāmaputta), the second of the Buddha's two teachers, who considered it equivalent to enlightenment.
** ZUN has been merciful. The place is clearly at least physical. But it's still a place where everyone around her ''doesn't notice her at all''. Or not notice her, but they certainly aren't giving her attention. That is no place for a child.
*** Well, that would certainly explain her desire for attention.
* In ''Wild and Horned Hermit'', multiple characters drink from Kasen's box, which causes them to become [[BoisterousBruiser as loudmouthed and aggressive as an oni]]. It's implied that [[AxCrazy Yuuka]] was one of them. [[OhCrap Let's hope that nobody got remotely close to her afterwards.]]
* In ''Hopeless Masquerade'', Nitori appears with a shirikodama in hand. It's implied that she got it from a random person in the crowd at the temple. Considering the process by which that sort of thing is obtained...
** Considering the removal tends to be fatal [[note]]one of the inspirations for the kappa myth was the fact that drowning victims were found with enlarged anuses[[/note]], that means she probably killed some random schmuck and ''is still gaining popularity!'' Clearly the poor [[{{Pun}} Butt]] [[ButtMonkey Monkey]] wasn't very popular.
** One of her cards in ''Double Spoiler'' is Kappa "Dried Shirikodama." And this being BulletHell, she has a lot of them... Even Aya wonders how many people were sacrificed to make that many. Hatate just wonders if Nitori's a gourmet since she eats them.
* Seija's personality is always opposite to those around her, so what if she encountered an extremely pure and good character? Would we then have an UltimateEvil on our hands?
** She's already trying to overthrow the society of Gensokyo, so it probably wouldn't be too much worse. Besides which, it wouldn't make her any more dangerous, since that has no bearing on how strong she is.
* Doubling over with Fridge TearJerker: Yamabiko used to be pretty common youkai. When rumors started circulating about how echoes are actually just soundwaves being reflected off surfaces, many humans stopped shouting at the mountains, which has resulted in the death of many yamabiko. Right now, the species are facing extinction... Kyouko is the only yamabiko we've been introduced to so far, but she seems pretty cheerful for a being that might disappear in a PuffOfLogic, so maybe the situation really isn't so bad? ...except... Kyouko is currently a priest in-training at the Buddhist Myouren temple. One of the core teachings in Buddhism is to accept that all worldly things are transitory and, to spare oneself from suffering, let go of one's attachments to the world... Kyouko might be cheerful despite the grave situation the yamabiko are in because she has come to terms with the fact that she, and her entire species, are going to fade away.
* It was said that the reason Koishi can only act subconsciously is because she can't read her own mind. This means that her conscious mind is trapped in an AndIMustScream situation. No wonder Satori didn't follow her example.
* What will happen to Mokou and Kaguya in the future? Hint: the sun will deplete its hydrogen supply, growing big enough to destroy the Earth, then collapse, and then the entire universe will decay as it tends toward maximum entropy. Where does that leave them? Dying and resurrecting in hard vacuum, '''forever!!!'''
** No wonder the Hourai Elixir is taboo...
* ''Wild and Horned Hermit'' reveals that not only objects, but real living creatures and individuals can end up entering Gensokyou if forgotten by those around them. So that brings the question, just how many humans ended up entering Gensokyou by simply being forgotten while still alive?
** Kasen also brings up another point, what if they also ended up forgotten in Gensokyou?
* In ''Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom'', Sagume notes that Marisa is a human... which is fine and all, except Sagume's power is that the opposite of whatever she says comes true. Is Marisa going to turn into a youkai because of this?
** Well, magicians in there aren't really "human". So that's probably what she meant.
*** Except that's not how Sagume's ability works. Sagume's ability only works on situations of events, so if her ability really worked that way, then some bits of her dialogue (e.g "You're terribly strong.", "The people of the moon aren't aware of any of this, though.") would've completely changed the storyline, so your point is null and void.
* Yukari often mentions that youkai are getting their food from somewhere in the outside world. Well, there happens to be a very convenient place for youkai to go hunting in Japan: Aokigahara. Dark, isolated, possibly outright haunted, and full of both humans who have given up on living, and corpses of varying freshness to suit nearly any palate, the "Suicide Forest" is the perfect place for youkai to go meat shopping.
** Also brilliant in a sickening way, since the more corpses and suicidal souls the youkai carry off, the more the Japanese government can suppress the true numbers of those who vanish into the Sea of Trees. And given [[TheChessmaster Yukari]], this is quite possibly intentional, and maybe even a deal she specifically arranged.
* More like Fridge {{Squick}}. Murasa uses water droplets as her danmaku. However, in some attacks she's spraying some yellow colored water droplets. Is she shooting you with pee?
* Yukari's "gapping in trains" move in ''Hisentoku''., Every time she uses it, she kills hundreds of confused and terrified people.
** The spellcard in question twice uses the word "Abandoned", and the trains themselves are covered in cobwebs and broken windows. These are not trains that are being used by people.
* In Chapter 49.5 of ''Wild and Horned Hermit'', Ibaraki-Douji's Arm summons the skeletons of all of her (and by extension pre-hermit Kasen's) past victims, and there are enough of them that they can completely bury Reimu. That's quite a high body count...
* Kasen's plan in the final few chapters of ''Wild and Horned Hermit'' involving Reimu being banished to Hell may seem a bit extreme, but consider how doing so essentially left Ibaraki-Douji's Arm's only option [[ToServeMan for food as the one person who could beat her]]. Imagine if she had been released on the surface instead and was savvy enough to realize that she couldn't win and went somewhere like the Human Village to get something to eat... Good call there Kasen.
* As pointed out by [[https://www.deviantart.com/fullhitpoints/art/Mystic-Square-Explained-671107226 this comic]], ''Mystic Square'' is essentially about the heroines beating up tourists who are either minding their own business or are trying to protect their friends and family from being terrorized. [[NonLethalWarfare Spellcard rules]] would make this fine and dandy, but there's no indication that spellcard rules ''even existed'' in the PC-98 games, with some lines of dialogue ("Genocide is just a game!" "When you meet your friend in the afterlife, tell her I said hi!") implying that the battles have the potential to end with death. Even worse, the final fight against Shinki has a city burning in the background, meaning that hundreds could have died and the survivors would be left homeless. [[KarmaHoudini And the heroines get away with all of this.]]
** Thankfully, this is [[NightmareRetardant slightly undercut]] by virtue of Shinki being a god, and while she was sorely winded, she was not injured or killed. Given Makai and its people are her creations, she could theoretically restore the ruined city once she regains her strength, and pull the souls of any casualties back across the Sanzu to resurrect them. But this still leaves everyone with the trauma of getting pummeled by two little kids, an insane ghost, and whatever the hell they think Yuuka happens to be. Hope Makai's got therapists!
* According to the spellcard laws, "If victorious against a human, you may not kill them." ''A human''. As in, ''youkai don't get this privilege''. If you're a youkai without ResurrectiveImmortality who has gotten on the bad side of someone who is AxCrazy, sucks to be you!
* In the bad endings of ''Wily Beast and Weakest Creature'', Yachie threatens to execute your player character for failure, only changing her mind after your character begs for another chance. Marisa, fanon pairings and relationships aside, is probably not the most dangerously well-connected human to have sleep with the fishes, and her most powerful canon friend (Reimu) is also unable to resist Yachie's CompellingVoice. This means reprisal for the Black-White Magician's death is severely unlikely, unless you want to assume Mima would suddenly appear after years of silence to defend or avenge her former apprentice. And while killing Youmu might potentially anger Yuyuko enough to walk into Yachie's office and snuff out her life with a glare, it's highly likely the girl will just "wake up" in Hakugyokurou as a full ghost, meaning Yuyuko ultimately may not even care. But then we come to Reimu, Gensokyo's BarrierMaiden. The Animal World probably isn't covered by the Great Hakurei Barrier, so one can understand how Yachie doesn't seem to give a damn about how it would collapse if Reimu died. But even putting fanworks and fanon relationships aside, there is no way attempting to murder Reimu would not bring the likes of Kasen, Yukari, and possibly even Okina out of the woodwork, given Reimu's survival is required for Gensokyo's existence. Three very powerful women, who most sane people would consider it suicidal to provoke or oppose. And we already know Yukari, at least, is willing to commit murder against those who threaten Gensokyo's integrity, as Tenshi can attest. Even trying to so much as lay a hand on Reimu would almost certainly end in Yachie suffering a very quick, and likely gruesome death. To say nothing of the power vacuum this death would cause in the Animal World...
* Shions entire existence up until she met Tenshi is nothing but misfortune, even her own sister treats her like crap, that much is obvious but think about it a bit further and you realise shes a young relatively attracitve girl, desperate for money(or food or just a place to sleep) and is plagued by bad luck, one does not need a lot of imagination to imagine the result of that combination
to:
----
[[AC:FridgeBrilliance]]
* Day stages won't work in ''Immaterial and Missing Power'' if someone is playing as Remilia. Think about that for a second. She's a vampire.
** Same thing in ''Scarlet Weather Rhapsody'' and ''Hisoutensoku'', but even better in the latter: day stages won't work unless Remilia has a parasol (her unique system card, which provides a projectile-eating shield when activated) in her deck.
** Actually, in ''Scarlet Weather Rhapsody'', there are no day and night stage versions due to the weather system. When either (or [[MirrorMatch both]]) players choose Remilia, the match is played on one of the two indoor stages, Patchouli's Library or Scarlet Devil Mansion Foyer, with BGM for the chosen stage playing. [[FridgeLogic Strangely]], Remilia can't fight on Iku's sea of clouds stage, even though it's dark and there's little to no sunlight (or visible weather effects) there. The situation gets even weirder in ''Hisoutensoku'', where Remi is allowed to fight on yet another stage without the aforementioned parasol card. Illogically, it's not Yuyuko's garden (turned into a night stage in ''Hisoutensoku'' due to some bullets being hard to see with snow in the background in ''SWR''). No, it's another indoor stage... a [[InsaneTrollLogic nuclear fusion reactor core!]] [[FlatWhat What?]]
*** So she can't handle the sun over the earth, but she can handle the one under the earth. [[FlatWhat Double what.]]
*** Vampires can't handle sunlight when it's a sign of life. However, "scientific" UV radiation often doesn't affect thematic vampires for whom sunlight is anathema because it represents life. Plus, the artificial solar power is from a dead god consumed by a hell raven. No thematic opposition there.
*** Remember, OurVampiresAreDifferent.
*** Well, in her win quote against Okuu she states that she ''rather dislikes the sun'', and both Okuu ''and'' Remilia have their beaten-up portraits shown. So while it's possible that UV radiation ''might'' be harmful for her, it's likely that the radiation from the core is not enough compared to the true sun. Still makes little sense why she would be allowed to play on this particular stage, but yeah, OurVampiresAreDifferent.
*** There's also the factor that ZUN is known to be a ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' fan, and Vampires in that series are weak to UV Lights. It would make sense if he carried that over as a weakness for ''Touhou'' Vampires.
* Nue Houjuu's theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMXaJvxGAxo "Heian Alien"]], almost sounds like Flandre Scarlet's theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyC5eWJhCr8&feature=related "U.N Owen Was Her?"]]. I didn't really understand why it almost sounds like Flandre's, than it hit me - she's a Nue, that's what she ''wants'' you to hear. It's an illusion of Flandre, just like Nue makes the heroines ''think'' those flying objects are shaped like flying-plate styled [=UFOs.=] Even the Extra Stage theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUDqOIBY9FA UFO "Romance in the Night Sky"]], can be an illusion, too. -@/PMiller1
** So Nue is {{Troll}}ing the players. [[BreakingTheFourthWall Surprised?]] Kogasa just broke the fourth wall with the word "Surprise" on the screen when she showed up earlier as the midboss. Nue took advantage of the break to play Flan's theme. -{{@/Sk8torchic}}
* When I think about it deeply, Suwako's childishness in both behavior and appearance as according to fanwork portrayals nets some serious FridgeBrilliance points. She no longer has a kingdom to look after, and Kanako's taken over the shrine. As gods are capable of at least partial control over their appearance, and it's probably likely that reducing your physical form to that of a child saves on divine power, she chooses to downsize her body. Furthermore, as she was content to fade away as according to her profile, she probably let herself go in terms of seriousness and responsibilities, so she becomes more childish as a result. Chances are that if she feels the need to get serious, she'll suddenly stop goofing around childishly and bring out her full divine might. -@/AceOfScarabs
* Another piece of delicious Fridge Brilliance I have concerns [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Flandre]] [[TykeBomb Scarlet]]. Comparing various pieces of canonical information on her, I have understood why she willingly stays at home in the SDM. Basically, Flandre is able to understand that she may lose control over her temper or passions and end up destroying things she actually cares for, so she's willing to stay somewhere safe where things won't upset her easily. This is remarkable maturity for an unstable little vampire girl, which shows that she may yet become more stable! -@/AceOfScarabs
** On another tangent, there's a pretty good reason why Flandre and Koishi are often partnered in fanart: Koishi's power is manipulating the subconscious, which is why she can minimize Flandre's urges to destroy. ~ @/{{Nitramy}}
** Semi confirmed in the Chireikeiden manga, as opposed to the fandom Canon Flan doesn't really try to break out.
* ZUN's observation that Sakuya Izayoi must be able to control space as well as time makes perfect sense, even if his reasoning is highly suspect. Since her main power is freezing time, she'd have to be able to control space to do little things like [[RequiredSecondaryPowers move and breathe]] when time is stopped and everything else, including the air around her, is frozen in place. This also justifies her [[KnifeNut knife-filled]] {{Hammerspace}}.
** Adding to that, her eyes become red when she's manipulating time isn't a random or cool point, it's probably the Doppler effect happening due to the space between her eyes and the opponent's changing, thus changing the wavelength of the light. (Which still makes it super cool, though.)
* In ''Silent Sinner in Blue'', Reimu provides an exposition that explains that Shinto gods are able to infinitely split their spirits, but in the cases of Suwako and Kanako, gods who still retain their earthly bodies, the spirit can split while the original body stays the same. Fast forward to 12.3, in which Sanae can call upon Suwako as an assist against ''Suwako herself'', and suddenly what would normally be FridgeLogic makes ''perfect sense.''
** Of course, for those who don't really know much beyond the games, Suwako herself confirms this in her win dialogue against herself. -@/{{TARDISES}}
* Parsee's PointyEars can be justified as [[InvokedTrope body modification, or simply fakes]] - she's jealous of the cooler-looking inhuman youkai, and trying to imitate them.
* Satori not being into fighting makes perfect sense because of her mind-reading power; she'd sense the pain her enemies were in when she hurt them. She'd rather try to frighten away hostiles or intruders, as she does to the player character.
* The name of the one-man team ZUN formed, Shanghai Alice, describes the nature of Gensokyo - it's a fantastic wonderland set in the far east.
* At first, I didn't give it a lot of thought about why the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' parody, ''VideoGame/MegaMari'', has Marisa as the protagonist. After all, she is the protagonist in many other games of this sort. Then it hit me: Marisa has a tendency to, ahem, "[[KleptomaniacHero borrow]]" techniques and magic from enemies she fights. What does that remind you of? Yep, MegaManning. -@/{{Fubu72}}
* When Flandre is introduced, she breaks the fourth wall. She breaks the fourth wall thanks to her power to break anything. -@/{{matteste}}
* When listening to Flandre's stage theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV16HghvnC4 "The Centennial Festival for Magical Girls"]], I always assumed the sudden switch in mood, and chimes, were due to the title. And then I suddenly realized... Flandre's crystal wings would sound like chimes. And you're going through her basement. She's stalking you throughout the entire stage, and only appears to you once she thinks you're weak enough to kill and eat. -RenaTheArchmage
* Most of the characters in this series wear hats. Somewhere in Gensokyo, there must be a [[Literature/AliceInWonderland haberdasher, and he's probably quite insane]]. ~@/{{Specialist290}}
** There is a {{doujin}} that has Zun as a "[[http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/1002881 villain]]", and he's called "The Mad Hatter." So at least one Japanese person agrees with you.
* At first, I, like many other fans thought that Kaguya and Mokou should've gotten over their rivalry a long time ago. After finally learning what Kaguya's ability was actually capable of doing, it's entirely possible that Kaguya used her powers on Mokou in order for Mokou's hatred of her to last forever. -@/{{raigakuren}}
** If true, this would make Kaguya the biggest jerkass in the series.
*** She's gotta do ''something'' for "fun", as would Mokou. That rivalry was suiting them just fine!
* The title of the extra stage theme from Imperishable Night is "Extend Ash ~ Hourai Victim". The first part can seem a bit nonsensical, at least until you think about it. What word flashes over the screen when you get an extra life? ''Extend''. And phoenixes gain life from their ''ashes''. -SoneAnna
* This might be a stretch, but in Letty's theme, "Crystallized Silver", in intervals there occurs a bleep sound that sounds like a cat. Who is the next stage's midboss and boss? Chen! She was watching you from afar.
* Koishi's 3rd eye is blue, the color of blood without oxygen.
** Er, well... blood doesn't actually turn blue without oxygen, but yes, veins do appear blue when viewed through the skin because of a lack of oxygen. So the point's still valid.
* In ''Silent Sinner in Blue'', Yorihime sends Sakuya's knives back towards her, and she ends up boxed in by them and has to surrender. This is doubly funny if you've played ''[=EoSD=]'' - boxing you in is what almost all of Sakuya's attack patterns are ''designed'' to do.
* The BossSubtitles characters get in ''Wild and Horned Hermit'' tend to be much less flattering than the ones they get in the games. (e.g. Sanae gets "Shallow and thoughtless human" instead of "Deified human of the wind"). Well, Kasen is known to be rather judgemental, isn't she? They probably represent ''her'' opinion of the various folks she meets.
** This is pretty much supported by the fact that only one character in the manga gets a purely descriptive title. That character is, as you may have guessed, Kasen herself.
*** Want to know the first hint that things at the end of Chapter 49.5 of ''Wild and Horned Hermit'' are not as bad as they seem? The character title for Oni Kasen, the form she doesn't want to keep, ''is a critique.''
* ZUN says that when Reimu uses Fantasy Heaven, she can't be beaten by any method; one might think that one of the many powerful characters could just warp reality and win against her that way. However, remember that they are [[RealityWarper Reality Warpers]]... then how the hell do you warp something that's ''outside'' of reality? She simply is out of reach. -@/{{matteste}}
** Take reality itself and attempt to wrap it around her and drag her bubble of nonreality existence back into reality? -nedben
*** -would not be entierly unlike attempting to catch a BarrierWarrior surrounding himself with an AntiMagic field by throwing confinement spells at him. The warrior is not very likely to be impressed by the effort.
*** It'd be more like using confinement spells on the field itself, instead of on the individual that the field is protecting. Or like throwing a net over them, field and all.
*** Point still stands: [[NoSell Neither the warrior nor the field are going to be in the least bit affected by the effort.]]
*** Besides, one of the effects of floating is that Reimu 'floats' through life (allowing her to meander aimlessly through an entire Incident, beating up everyone she meets along the way, and still eventually get to the perpetrator). So she's unlikely to get caught in such a trap in the first place, as she'd just float away from anything trying to ensnare her.
* Next time you're playing ''Perfect Cherry Blossom'' on Hard or lower, take a close look at the progression of "Blue Sign: Benevolent French Dolls." The bullets start out blue, become white when they reverse direction and multiply, then turn red when they do it again. Blue, white, and red? How about ''bleu, blanc, et rouge'', the colors of the French flag? -@/{{Linhasxoc}}
* [[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Memento_in_Strict_Sense/Monologue Akyuu's monologue]] tells that youkai don't eat humans anymore, so when Rumia asks if she can eat Reimu, she's following that saying "asking doesn't offend".
* In ''Hopeless Masquerade'', one might think that all these background characters are only for ContinuityCavalcade purposes; however, since this game is based around popularity, it gets kinda hard to get more popular if you don't have a crowd to view the spectacle. -@/{{matteste}}
* ''Symposium of Post-Mysticism'' reveals that Yamame finds the stressed visitors of Byakuren's temple to be particularly delectable. ''Stress makes you more prone to illness.'' Which also means that if you get plagued by Yamame, what's going on is that she's using the malady to steal a bit of your vitality, kind of like a mosquito or lamprey.
* In most games, Stage 4 is notorious for a DifficultySpike compared to the first three stages. Then look again at when our main heroines, Reimu and Marisa, became bosses. They were always ''Stage 4 bosses'' (excluding ''Phantasmagoria'' and fighting games). That means Stage 4 is hard because it's when things are starting to match our heroines' abilities. The previous stages were just warm-ups to them.
* Reimu's donation box is always empty, and the shrine never gets any worshipers. So how does Reimu survive? Gensokyo is a place where the unbelievable is made manifest, so a failed shrine somehow providing a comfortable living for its miko is perfectly logical. -@/UmbraFractus
* Both characters and players have wondered what Nitori is doing in ''Hopeless Masquerade,'' considering its plot revolves around competition between religions. It makes more sense when you consider that in most modern religious disputes, science is often a major player, even when it's not [[MagicVersusScience an outright antagonist]]. -@/UmbraFractus
* [[DummiedOut Rin Satsuki]] is speculated by many that she was supposed to be a kirin. Look at her name, in Japanese order: Satsu'''[[MeaningfulName ki Rin]]'''.
** It helps that "su" in Japanese is often pronounced so quickly that it becomes a barely perceptible "s" sound, which helps highlight "ki" even more.
* Many wonder why [[AllMonksknowKungFu Byakuren]] is a much more physical fighter in ''Hopeless Masquerade''. Before she was sealed away, she was a Priestess of Bishamonten, a ''war god''.
** Her profile in ''UFO'' did mention that she specializes in body-enhancing (as in strength, speed, or durability) magic.
* Marisa is described as hard-working and always trying out new spells, while Reimu is BrilliantButLazy. This is reflected in the games from ''Mountain of Faith'' onwards. In each game, Marisa always get some new, non-orthodox shot-types (or new versions of her old shot-types, in the case of ''Ten Desires''), while Reimu always sticks to her Homing Amulet and Persuasion Needle most of the time.
** It's been even reflected throughout the majority of the series. Reimu's shot types are either {{Spread Shot}}s or homing shots, two shot types that allow the player to strike everywhere with minimal movement and effort. She's also slow, to balance out her property of being able to hit most of the screen while staying in one place. Marisa's shot types are more linear and precise. Not only does she, as a result, have to be more productive and move around to hit targets, she's also fast-moving, making her well-suited for that requirement.
* One might wonder why, despite all of Seija's trickery as a stage 5 boss in ''Double Dealing Character'', the heroine comments that she was surprisingly easy after the fact. That may be because their perspective never actually changes; they still look in her direction, it's just the player's view that's changed. From their perspective, it's true; her spells are very mundane.
** Her shot type in ''Impossible Spell Card'' does more damage the closer you are to the boss, when in a BulletHell game, it's typically suggested to keep your distance. But considering who she is...
* It's always upset me how rarely Reimu is depicted cosplaying in fan works compared to other characters, despite her being the most popular overall. But it does make sense, given how Reimu is an honest type of person while, say, Marisa, who cosplays much more often, is a known liar.
* Spellcard Suika is [[BreatherLevel one of the easiest]] in ''Impossible Spell Card'', [[SelfImposedChallenge even if you do not use items]]. The game is based on the idea of breaking the rules, and Suika WillNotTellALie.
** This is even easier if you use the doll as a passive item. The doll gives you [[SuperStrength Super Strength]], and Suika is [[WillfullyWeak deliberately suppressing her true power]]. -@/{{Andyzero}}
* The Aki sisters being...sisters makes even more sense when you realize their domains are the same thing, but for different species. It's not just autumn. Why do leaves turn brown? The tree is harvesting the nutrients into their trunks for storage for the winter; just like how people harvest crops and store them. (A feast was one of the ways ancient people stored food; eat a lot of it in case storage goes bad, then you've got fat for the winter, if nothing else.) Shizuha would get more respect if there were "tree"-based youkai or dryads in Gensokyo. (Flower-based Youkai like Yuuka don't care; plus sunflowers are annual, they only live one year, so surviving the winter is not an issue; it's their seeds that come up the next spring.)
* The Scarlet Team and the Netherworld Team fighting Reimu and Marisa, respectively, doesn't make too much sense at first. Then you realize those previously mentioned teams were former adversaries whose members were previously defeated by them in their previous journeys.
* Most of Koishi's spellcards in ''Hopeless Masquerade'' have her being impulsive and careless as normal, except for one: "Suppression: 'Super-Ego'", where she slips into a TroubledFetalPosition. Why is this? Well, think about Koishi's backstory for a second: she closed her Third Eye so she wouldn't have to read minds anymore, but this also made her unable to think rationally. In other words, ''she's suppressing her super-ego''; the spellcard is a reference to her origins, and during the spellcard it's almost as if she's trying to force her super-ego back down. Indeed, the sudden reemergence of all those suppressed emotions [[MySkullRunnethOver is not going]] [[HopeIsScary to be pleasant]]. [=-SLthePyro=]
* Cirno is typically associated with a 9 in a circle. In [[{{Literature/TheDivineComedy}} Dante's Inferno]], the ninth circle of Hell is presented as an icy prison for its inhabitants.
** Same goes for Mai. Her personality and the title of her theme music may be a reference to the ninth circle of Hell, which represents treacherous sin with the frozen river named Cocytus, where the biblical traitor Judas Iscariot is being tortured for all eternity.
* I always thought that the songs present in ''[=PoFV=]'' sounded a bit... empty, for lack of a better expression, as if channels were missing from them. Then I actually played the game and realised this might be intentional. At any given moment, the sound effects will make twice the amount of noise made in one BulletHell. If the music had been as elaborate as it tends to be in the other games, it would all probably sound like a cluttered mess. While I still prefer certain covers, it now makes sense why ZUN would write them like he did.
* Junko has, contrary to almost all other named characters, no expository BossSubtitles. This is because she has purified herself to the point where "Junko" is all she is. Clownpiece's subtitle, "Fairy of Hell", is just a direct description of what she is with no additional flair whatsoever. Junko has purified her, too.
* Hecatia threw in her support to Junko because Chang'e's husband apparently killed Apollo along with Junko's son. Hecate is traditionally an aspect of the goddess Artemis, Apollo's ''twin sister''. Junko isn't the only woman out to avenge a family member.
** And why is she not here as Artemis, or perhaps Selene, her actual moon-focused aspect? It's quite possible the trauma of losing Apollo (who she loved dearly despite their occasional spat), combined with her anger towards the Lunarians (who could be considered her subjects, in a way), caused the goddess to abandon those two faces and wholly become the hell-goddess of magic. Depending on when they first met, Junko's influence probably helped that along, too.
** Why would a character based on a Greek goddess even be present in an ''Eastern'' paradise? Turns out [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism Hellenistic Greece had a significant influence on early Buddhism]]. Furthermore, some Japanese gods can trace their origins to Hellenistic Greece, such as [[http://www.bythegods.net/post/592667792 the Shinto wind god Fujin having originated as the Greek god Boreas]].
* Why do the Lunarian and moon rabbit bosses of ''Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom'' know how to use Spell Cards? It's very likely that Yorihime introduced the concept to the Lunarians at large following the events of ''Silent Sinner in Blue'', and the "Eagle Ravi" Earth Recon Unit was likely watching over Gensokyo for a while as they made preparations.
* Why is Koishi so friendly in demeanor despite closing her third eye and being emotionless? Because of her condition, Koishi acts upon her desires alone, and prior to closing her third eye, she wanted to make friends, so she acts fairly friendly despite most of the time feeling nothing behind it.
* If one really thinks about it, the series' use of the UnreliableNarrator makes a whole lot of sense when looked at from the narrative as a whole. Namely that it has paradoxes like SchrodingersButterfly and UsefulNotes/SchrodingersCat as its central recurring theme. Remember that those paradoxes only remain as long as they aren't directly observed, and the UnreliableNarrator ties directly into that. If we were ever to know the full truth, then we would observe a state of the paradox and give it form, thus causing it to break down and no longer be a paradox.
* Clownpiece's power is inducing insanity. Since she's also [[ThatOneBoss notoriously difficult]], it's likely she's driven many a player into difficulty-induced rage. Her power [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou affects the player, too]]!
** Many players have noted that the extreme difficulty spike in Easy/Normal that Clownpiece brings along with her doesn't seem to apply with the Hard/Lunatic difficulties, where her patterns act differently and seem generally more consistent with the overall difficulty of the game. Because Clownpiece's power involves inducing insanity, no wonder her patterns are seen as extremely hard on the lower difficulties. However, if you're a pro in tackling the Hard and Lunatic difficulties, you're probably already as insane as her to begin with, so her power has no effect on you.
* In Japanese mythology, satori are typically depicted as apes. However, in Touhou (which, when it comes to animal-like youkai, usually includes at least ''one'' thing that hints at the animal they are based on), Satori and Koishi have no ape-like traits, and mainly just look like normal humans (save for their Third Eyes). However, when you think about it, they are ape-like in a way, because technically, humans ''are'' apes.
* Why are there human spirits native to the Animal Realm in ''Wily Beast and Weakest Creature''? Humans ''are'' animals.
* Sumireko's "Gun Sign '3D Printer Gun'" can't be grazed, even though it's a bullet. Why is this? It's a physical bullet, not a magic one, so the rules don't apply to it.
* At first, it might seem jarring that Eika Ebisu, who is literally a baby, has a battle theme that is full of electric guitars. But when you think about it, Eika's whole "thing" is that she stacks rocks, so it makes sense that her theme would be ''[[{{Pun}} rock]]'' music.
[[AC:FridgeHorror]]
* In ''Phantasmagoria of Flower View'', each character has their own unique ability, such as Reimu's smaller hitbox and Tewi's autobomb when she can only take one more hit. [[LivingToys Medicine's]] is that she won't get hurt if she collides with a spirit. You later find out in her final stage that spirits who do not realise they've died are still trying to use her and possess her. They won't hurt her, because [[NightmareFuel they're trying to do]] [[DemonicPossession something a lot worse.]]
* [[RealityWarper Yukari]] has a habit of bringing people she likes into Gensokyo. And if they don't manage to find the only human village before they are discovered, they will be eaten. No exceptions. In other words, Yukari is behind the disappearance and death of possibly hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Including children. And considering the hands and eyes in her gaps, the ones who died are most likely the lucky ones.
* On the note of Yukari... her abilities. How many boundaries are there that could spell doom? Boundary of fantasy and reality is the quite clear example (and actually is observable in-universe as the Hakurei Barrier), but this troper noticed another, more dangerous boundary: Boundary of real and false vacuum. If she wanted to, she not only could destroy the world, but the entire universe.
** On a more personal level, the cell membrane is itself a boundary. ''Yukari could disrupt this boundary and '''melt a person at the cellular level''''', basically dissolving them into lifeless sludge.
* Yuyuko intended to steal the essence of spring from Gensoukyou and use it to awaken the Saigyou Ayakashi. While it's true that she didn't know that the Ayakashi is an EldritchAbomination, she couldn't have missed that stealing the spring would have plunged Gensoukyou into eternal winter, killing all of the plants and dooming the inhabitants to starvation. And she was EasilyForgiven, just like everyone else.
** The fact that she's EasilyForgiven might have something to do with the fact that she's [[JerkassGods Yukari]]'s friend... ah, the fringe benefits! Plus, Reimu doesn't seem to be exactly dedicated to her job, so it's likely that, after she stopped Yuyuko, she simply didn't care about punishing her. When she gets hit close to home, like in ''SWR'', however...
** Well, it's implied that Yuyuko was intending to give the spring back to Gensokyo once the cherry tree bloomed, actually. She just didn't know the tree was evil.
* Utsuho was essentially a [[ILoveNuclearPower living star]] that intended to TakeOverTheWorld and convert the surface into a blasted hellscape. And even she was EasilyForgiven.
** Utsuho has an excuse, though, since [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity she was driven temporarily mad by the power]] she was given. She wasn't a threat anymore once sense was knocked back into her by the player character. The real problem comes with the person who made her this way, [[JerkassGods Kanako]], who originally intended to use her to create a power plant. While that goal in itself isn't really bad, it doesn't change the fact that the events of ''Subterranean Animism'' wouldn't have happened if she hadn't tried to turn Utsuho into a living nuclear battery.
* About half of the characters' inferred backstories aren't exactly nice. Medicine was abandoned, Reimu was abandoned, Reisen is a traitor to the moon people, Eirin has ''committed cold-blooded murder'', Alice may have wiped out a lot of people/youkai, Sakuya may be a serial killer[[note]]consider the names of many of her spellcards[[/note]]...
* All those cakes and tea and sweets that fanart likes to show the Scarlet sisters enjoying? If you read Flandre's profile provided in ''[=EoSD=]'', it pretty strongly suggests that they all contain human blood.
** Fanart of Sakuya making/enjoying those herself. Blood-drinking serial killer from the moon!
* Stage 3 of ''Ten Desires'' shows the cemetery of the Myouren Temple. The temple was founded only two years before. Yet, that's an extremely large number of graves.
** At least some of the graves have to be older than the cemetary, and have been transported there to help the deceased pass on to the afterlife.
* Gensokyou's existence is bound to Reimu's. Then what would happen if an OmnicidalManiac rolled along and decided to go for Reimu as the most efficient way?
** They'll be killed by Reimu (or Yukari), of course. There's a reason no one dares to disrespect her. (One of them is Fantasy Heaven.)
* Tenshi's theme and apparent origin both reference Bhava-Agra, also known as Naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana. Here's the wiki entry:
-->Naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana or Nevasaññānāsaññāyatana (Tib: 'du shes med 'du shes med min) "Sphere of neither perception nor non-perception". In this sphere the formless beings have gone beyond a mere negation of perception and have attained a liminal state where they do not engage in "perception" (saṃjñā, recognition of particulars by their marks) but are not wholly unconscious. This was the sphere reached by Udraka Rāmaputra (Pāli: Uddaka Rāmaputta), the second of the Buddha's two teachers, who considered it equivalent to enlightenment.
** ZUN has been merciful. The place is clearly at least physical. But it's still a place where everyone around her ''doesn't notice her at all''. Or not notice her, but they certainly aren't giving her attention. That is no place for a child.
*** Well, that would certainly explain her desire for attention.
* In ''Wild and Horned Hermit'', multiple characters drink from Kasen's box, which causes them to become [[BoisterousBruiser as loudmouthed and aggressive as an oni]]. It's implied that [[AxCrazy Yuuka]] was one of them. [[OhCrap Let's hope that nobody got remotely close to her afterwards.]]
* In ''Hopeless Masquerade'', Nitori appears with a shirikodama in hand. It's implied that she got it from a random person in the crowd at the temple. Considering the process by which that sort of thing is obtained...
** Considering the removal tends to be fatal [[note]]one of the inspirations for the kappa myth was the fact that drowning victims were found with enlarged anuses[[/note]], that means she probably killed some random schmuck and ''is still gaining popularity!'' Clearly the poor [[{{Pun}} Butt]] [[ButtMonkey Monkey]] wasn't very popular.
** One of her cards in ''Double Spoiler'' is Kappa "Dried Shirikodama." And this being BulletHell, she has a lot of them... Even Aya wonders how many people were sacrificed to make that many. Hatate just wonders if Nitori's a gourmet since she eats them.
* Seija's personality is always opposite to those around her, so what if she encountered an extremely pure and good character? Would we then have an UltimateEvil on our hands?
** She's already trying to overthrow the society of Gensokyo, so it probably wouldn't be too much worse. Besides which, it wouldn't make her any more dangerous, since that has no bearing on how strong she is.
* Doubling over with Fridge TearJerker: Yamabiko used to be pretty common youkai. When rumors started circulating about how echoes are actually just soundwaves being reflected off surfaces, many humans stopped shouting at the mountains, which has resulted in the death of many yamabiko. Right now, the species are facing extinction... Kyouko is the only yamabiko we've been introduced to so far, but she seems pretty cheerful for a being that might disappear in a PuffOfLogic, so maybe the situation really isn't so bad? ...except... Kyouko is currently a priest in-training at the Buddhist Myouren temple. One of the core teachings in Buddhism is to accept that all worldly things are transitory and, to spare oneself from suffering, let go of one's attachments to the world... Kyouko might be cheerful despite the grave situation the yamabiko are in because she has come to terms with the fact that she, and her entire species, are going to fade away.
* It was said that the reason Koishi can only act subconsciously is because she can't read her own mind. This means that her conscious mind is trapped in an AndIMustScream situation. No wonder Satori didn't follow her example.
* What will happen to Mokou and Kaguya in the future? Hint: the sun will deplete its hydrogen supply, growing big enough to destroy the Earth, then collapse, and then the entire universe will decay as it tends toward maximum entropy. Where does that leave them? Dying and resurrecting in hard vacuum, '''forever!!!'''
** No wonder the Hourai Elixir is taboo...
* ''Wild and Horned Hermit'' reveals that not only objects, but real living creatures and individuals can end up entering Gensokyou if forgotten by those around them. So that brings the question, just how many humans ended up entering Gensokyou by simply being forgotten while still alive?
** Kasen also brings up another point, what if they also ended up forgotten in Gensokyou?
* In ''Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom'', Sagume notes that Marisa is a human... which is fine and all, except Sagume's power is that the opposite of whatever she says comes true. Is Marisa going to turn into a youkai because of this?
** Well, magicians in there aren't really "human". So that's probably what she meant.
*** Except that's not how Sagume's ability works. Sagume's ability only works on situations of events, so if her ability really worked that way, then some bits of her dialogue (e.g "You're terribly strong.", "The people of the moon aren't aware of any of this, though.") would've completely changed the storyline, so your point is null and void.
* Yukari often mentions that youkai are getting their food from somewhere in the outside world. Well, there happens to be a very convenient place for youkai to go hunting in Japan: Aokigahara. Dark, isolated, possibly outright haunted, and full of both humans who have given up on living, and corpses of varying freshness to suit nearly any palate, the "Suicide Forest" is the perfect place for youkai to go meat shopping.
** Also brilliant in a sickening way, since the more corpses and suicidal souls the youkai carry off, the more the Japanese government can suppress the true numbers of those who vanish into the Sea of Trees. And given [[TheChessmaster Yukari]], this is quite possibly intentional, and maybe even a deal she specifically arranged.
* More like Fridge {{Squick}}. Murasa uses water droplets as her danmaku. However, in some attacks she's spraying some yellow colored water droplets. Is she shooting you with pee?
* Yukari's "gapping in trains" move in ''Hisentoku''., Every time she uses it, she kills hundreds of confused and terrified people.
** The spellcard in question twice uses the word "Abandoned", and the trains themselves are covered in cobwebs and broken windows. These are not trains that are being used by people.
* In Chapter 49.5 of ''Wild and Horned Hermit'', Ibaraki-Douji's Arm summons the skeletons of all of her (and by extension pre-hermit Kasen's) past victims, and there are enough of them that they can completely bury Reimu. That's quite a high body count...
* Kasen's plan in the final few chapters of ''Wild and Horned Hermit'' involving Reimu being banished to Hell may seem a bit extreme, but consider how doing so essentially left Ibaraki-Douji's Arm's only option [[ToServeMan for food as the one person who could beat her]]. Imagine if she had been released on the surface instead and was savvy enough to realize that she couldn't win and went somewhere like the Human Village to get something to eat... Good call there Kasen.
* As pointed out by [[https://www.deviantart.com/fullhitpoints/art/Mystic-Square-Explained-671107226 this comic]], ''Mystic Square'' is essentially about the heroines beating up tourists who are either minding their own business or are trying to protect their friends and family from being terrorized. [[NonLethalWarfare Spellcard rules]] would make this fine and dandy, but there's no indication that spellcard rules ''even existed'' in the PC-98 games, with some lines of dialogue ("Genocide is just a game!" "When you meet your friend in the afterlife, tell her I said hi!") implying that the battles have the potential to end with death. Even worse, the final fight against Shinki has a city burning in the background, meaning that hundreds could have died and the survivors would be left homeless. [[KarmaHoudini And the heroines get away with all of this.]]
** Thankfully, this is [[NightmareRetardant slightly undercut]] by virtue of Shinki being a god, and while she was sorely winded, she was not injured or killed. Given Makai and its people are her creations, she could theoretically restore the ruined city once she regains her strength, and pull the souls of any casualties back across the Sanzu to resurrect them. But this still leaves everyone with the trauma of getting pummeled by two little kids, an insane ghost, and whatever the hell they think Yuuka happens to be. Hope Makai's got therapists!
* According to the spellcard laws, "If victorious against a human, you may not kill them." ''A human''. As in, ''youkai don't get this privilege''. If you're a youkai without ResurrectiveImmortality who has gotten on the bad side of someone who is AxCrazy, sucks to be you!
* In the bad endings of ''Wily Beast and Weakest Creature'', Yachie threatens to execute your player character for failure, only changing her mind after your character begs for another chance. Marisa, fanon pairings and relationships aside, is probably not the most dangerously well-connected human to have sleep with the fishes, and her most powerful canon friend (Reimu) is also unable to resist Yachie's CompellingVoice. This means reprisal for the Black-White Magician's death is severely unlikely, unless you want to assume Mima would suddenly appear after years of silence to defend or avenge her former apprentice. And while killing Youmu might potentially anger Yuyuko enough to walk into Yachie's office and snuff out her life with a glare, it's highly likely the girl will just "wake up" in Hakugyokurou as a full ghost, meaning Yuyuko ultimately may not even care. But then we come to Reimu, Gensokyo's BarrierMaiden. The Animal World probably isn't covered by the Great Hakurei Barrier, so one can understand how Yachie doesn't seem to give a damn about how it would collapse if Reimu died. But even putting fanworks and fanon relationships aside, there is no way attempting to murder Reimu would not bring the likes of Kasen, Yukari, and possibly even Okina out of the woodwork, given Reimu's survival is required for Gensokyo's existence. Three very powerful women, who most sane people would consider it suicidal to provoke or oppose. And we already know Yukari, at least, is willing to commit murder against those who threaten Gensokyo's integrity, as Tenshi can attest. Even trying to so much as lay a hand on Reimu would almost certainly end in Yachie suffering a very quick, and likely gruesome death. To say nothing of the power vacuum this death would cause in the Animal World...
* Shions entire existence up until she met Tenshi is nothing but misfortune, even her own sister treats her like crap, that much is obvious but think about it a bit further and you realise shes a young relatively attracitve girl, desperate for money(or food or just a place to sleep) and is plagued by bad luck, one does not need a lot of imagination to imagine the result of that combination
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** Shions entire existence up until she met Tenshi is nothing but misfortune, even her own sister treats her like crap, that much is obvious but think about it a bit further and you realise shes a young relatively attracitve girl, desperate for money(or food or just a place to sleep) and is plagued by bad luck, one does not need a lot of imagination to imagine the result of that combination
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* In the bad endings of ''Wily Beast and Weakest Creature'', Yachie threatens to execute your player character for failure, only changing her mind after your character begs for another chance. Marisa, fanon pairings and relationships aside, is probably not the most dangerously well-connected human to have sleep with the fishes, and her most powerful canon friend (Reimu) is also unable to resist Yachie's CompellingVoice. This means reprisal for the Black-White Magician's death is severely unlikely, unless you want to assume Mima would suddenly appear after years of silence to defend or avenge her former apprentice. And while killing Youmu might potentially anger Yuyuko enough to walk into Yachie's office and snuff out her life with a glare, it's highly likely the girl will just "wake up" in Hakugyokurou as a full ghost, meaning Yuyuko ultimately may not even care. But then we come to Reimu, Gensokyo's BarrierMaiden. The Animal World probably isn't covered by the Great Hakurei Barrier, so one can understand how Yachie doesn't seem to give a damn about how it would collapse if Reimu died. But even putting fanworks and fanon relationships aside, there is no way attempting to murder Reimu would not bring the likes of Kasen, Yukari, and possibly even Okina out of the woodwork, given Reimu's survival is required for Gensokyo's existence. Three very powerful women, who most sane people would consider it suicidal to provoke or oppose. And we already know Yukari, at least, is willing to commit murder against those who threaten Gensokyo's integrity, as Tenshi can attest. Even trying to so much as lay a hand on Reimu would almost certainly end in Yachie suffering a very quick, and likely gruesome death. To say nothing of the power vacuum this death would cause in the Animal World...
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* In the bad endings of ''Wily Beast and Weakest Creature'', Yachie threatens to execute your player character for failure, only changing her mind after your character begs for another chance. Marisa, fanon pairings and relationships aside, is probably not the most dangerously well-connected human to have sleep with the fishes, and her most powerful canon friend (Reimu) is also unable to resist Yachie's CompellingVoice. This means reprisal for the Black-White Magician's death is severely unlikely, unless you want to assume Mima would suddenly appear after years of silence to defend or avenge her former apprentice. And while killing Youmu might potentially anger Yuyuko enough to walk into Yachie's office and snuff out her life with a glare, it's highly likely the girl will just "wake up" in Hakugyokurou as a full ghost, meaning Yuyuko ultimately may not even care. But then we come to Reimu, Gensokyo's BarrierMaiden. The Animal World probably isn't covered by the Great Hakurei Barrier, so one can understand how Yachie doesn't seem to give a damn about how it would collapse if Reimu died. But even putting fanworks and fanon relationships aside, there is no way attempting to murder Reimu would not bring the likes of Kasen, Yukari, and possibly even Okina out of the woodwork, given Reimu's survival is required for Gensokyo's existence. Three very powerful women, who most sane people would consider it suicidal to provoke or oppose. And we already know Yukari, at least, is willing to commit murder against those who threaten Gensokyo's integrity, as Tenshi can attest. Even trying to so much as lay a hand on Reimu would almost certainly end in Yachie suffering a very quick, and likely gruesome death. To say nothing of the power vacuum this death would cause in the Animal World...World...
**Shions entire existence up until she met Tenshi is nothing but misfortune, even her own sister treats her like crap, that much is obvious but think about it a bit further and you realise shes a young relatively attracitve girl, desperate for money(or food or just a place to sleep) and is plagued by bad luck, one does not need a lot of imagination to imagine the result of that combination
**Shions entire existence up until she met Tenshi is nothing but misfortune, even her own sister treats her like crap, that much is obvious but think about it a bit further and you realise shes a young relatively attracitve girl, desperate for money(or food or just a place to sleep) and is plagued by bad luck, one does not need a lot of imagination to imagine the result of that combination
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Zapping fanwork example.
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* This one is not canon, but goes for ''Sengoku Gensoukyou'' (a fangame which does not have a Wiki/TVTropes entry... yet). Every available species has {{Red Shirt}}s with minor variations of the same portraits and names. Those names range from mundane to {{Narm}}fully bizarre (Rokusuke Boozer - yes, Boozer is his last name) to... ''[[InfantImmortality Child]] [[AvertedTrope Ghost]]''. Said ghost has such low stats, they will likely hurt themselves more than the opponent from a melee attack. There is nothing keeping you from keeping this child in your prison forever, either. (On a semi-related note, your prisoners are always at 1 HP and need to be healed at the start of the turn after you recruit them, which makes you wonder what the conditions in that prison are like...)
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** Many players have noted that the extreme difficulty spike in Easy/Normal that Clownpiece brings along with her doesn't seem to apply with the Hard/Lunatic difficulties, where her patterns act differently and seem generally more consistent with the overall difficulty of the game. Because Clownpiece's power involves inducing insanity, no wonder her patterns are seen as extremely hard on the lower difficulties. However, if you're a pro in tackling the Hard and Lunatic difficulties, you're probably already as insane as her to begin with, so her power has no effect on you.
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** Semi confirmed in the Chireikeiden mana, as opposed to the fandom Canon Flan doesn't really try to break out. ~ @/TheTropingAlliancer
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** Semi confirmed in the Chireikeiden mana, manga, as opposed to the fandom Canon Flan doesn't really try to break out. ~ @/TheTropingAlliancer
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** Semi confirmed in the Chireikeiden mana, as opposed to the fandom Canon Flan doesn't really try to break out. ~ @/TheTropingAlliancer
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* At first, it might seem jarring that Eika Ebisu, who is literally a baby, has a battle theme that is full of electric guitars. But when you think about it, Eika's whole "thing" is that she stacks rocks, so it makes sense that her theme would be ''[[{{Pun}} rock]]'' music.
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No one's signing thier entries on this page, so I'm removing this.
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* Sumireko's "Gun Sign '3D Printer Gun'" can't be grazed, even though it's a bullet. Why is this? It's a physical bullet, not a magic one, so the rules don't apply to it. -@/{{Pgj1997}}
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* Sumireko's "Gun Sign '3D Printer Gun'" can't be grazed, even though it's a bullet. Why is this? It's a physical bullet, not a magic one, so the rules don't apply to it. -@/{{Pgj1997}}
it.
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* According to the spellcard laws, "If victorious against a human, you may not kill them." ''A human''. As in, ''youkai don't get this privilege''. If you're a youkai without ResurrectiveImmortality who has gotten on the bad side of someone who is AxCrazy, sucks to be you!
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** Thankfully, this is [[NightmareRetardant slightly undercut]] by virtue of Shinki being a god, and while she was sorely winded, she was not injured or killed. Given Makai and its people are her creations, she could theoretically restore the ruined city once she regains her strength, and pull the souls of any casualties back across the Sanzu to resurrect them. But this still leaves everyone with the trauma of getting pummeled by two little kids, an insane ghost, and whatever the hell they think Yuuka happens to be. Hope Makai's got therapists!
* According to the spellcard laws, "If victorious against a human, you may not kill them." ''A human''. As in, ''youkai don't get this privilege''. If you're a youkai without ResurrectiveImmortality who has gotten on the bad side of someone who is AxCrazy, sucks to beyou!you!
* In the bad endings of ''Wily Beast and Weakest Creature'', Yachie threatens to execute your player character for failure, only changing her mind after your character begs for another chance. Marisa, fanon pairings and relationships aside, is probably not the most dangerously well-connected human to have sleep with the fishes, and her most powerful canon friend (Reimu) is also unable to resist Yachie's CompellingVoice. This means reprisal for the Black-White Magician's death is severely unlikely, unless you want to assume Mima would suddenly appear after years of silence to defend or avenge her former apprentice. And while killing Youmu might potentially anger Yuyuko enough to walk into Yachie's office and snuff out her life with a glare, it's highly likely the girl will just "wake up" in Hakugyokurou as a full ghost, meaning Yuyuko ultimately may not even care. But then we come to Reimu, Gensokyo's BarrierMaiden. The Animal World probably isn't covered by the Great Hakurei Barrier, so one can understand how Yachie doesn't seem to give a damn about how it would collapse if Reimu died. But even putting fanworks and fanon relationships aside, there is no way attempting to murder Reimu would not bring the likes of Kasen, Yukari, and possibly even Okina out of the woodwork, given Reimu's survival is required for Gensokyo's existence. Three very powerful women, who most sane people would consider it suicidal to provoke or oppose. And we already know Yukari, at least, is willing to commit murder against those who threaten Gensokyo's integrity, as Tenshi can attest. Even trying to so much as lay a hand on Reimu would almost certainly end in Yachie suffering a very quick, and likely gruesome death. To say nothing of the power vacuum this death would cause in the Animal World...
* According to the spellcard laws, "If victorious against a human, you may not kill them." ''A human''. As in, ''youkai don't get this privilege''. If you're a youkai without ResurrectiveImmortality who has gotten on the bad side of someone who is AxCrazy, sucks to be
* In the bad endings of ''Wily Beast and Weakest Creature'', Yachie threatens to execute your player character for failure, only changing her mind after your character begs for another chance. Marisa, fanon pairings and relationships aside, is probably not the most dangerously well-connected human to have sleep with the fishes, and her most powerful canon friend (Reimu) is also unable to resist Yachie's CompellingVoice. This means reprisal for the Black-White Magician's death is severely unlikely, unless you want to assume Mima would suddenly appear after years of silence to defend or avenge her former apprentice. And while killing Youmu might potentially anger Yuyuko enough to walk into Yachie's office and snuff out her life with a glare, it's highly likely the girl will just "wake up" in Hakugyokurou as a full ghost, meaning Yuyuko ultimately may not even care. But then we come to Reimu, Gensokyo's BarrierMaiden. The Animal World probably isn't covered by the Great Hakurei Barrier, so one can understand how Yachie doesn't seem to give a damn about how it would collapse if Reimu died. But even putting fanworks and fanon relationships aside, there is no way attempting to murder Reimu would not bring the likes of Kasen, Yukari, and possibly even Okina out of the woodwork, given Reimu's survival is required for Gensokyo's existence. Three very powerful women, who most sane people would consider it suicidal to provoke or oppose. And we already know Yukari, at least, is willing to commit murder against those who threaten Gensokyo's integrity, as Tenshi can attest. Even trying to so much as lay a hand on Reimu would almost certainly end in Yachie suffering a very quick, and likely gruesome death. To say nothing of the power vacuum this death would cause in the Animal World...
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** Also brilliant in a sickening way, since the more corpses and suicidal souls the youkai carry off, the more the Japanese government can suppress the true numbers of those who vanish into the Sea of Trees. And given [[TheChessmaster Yukari]], this is quite possibly intentional, and maybe even a deal she specifically arranged.
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* Why are there human spirits native to the Animal Realm in ''Wily Beast and Weakest Creature''? Humans ''are'' an animal.
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* Why are there human spirits native to the Animal Realm in ''Wily Beast and Weakest Creature''? Humans ''are'' an animal.animals.
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* Sumireko's "Gun Sign '3D Printer Gun'" can't be grazed, even though it's a bullet. Why is this? It's a physical bullet, not a magic one, so the rules don't apply to it. -@/{{Pgj1997}}
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* Komeiji Koishi embodies Lust in ''SA''[='=]s "deadly sins" theme, and is infamous for her suggestively-shaped shots in "The Embers of Love". She also can't be remembered by anyone once they've stopped looking at her, and is apparently an "imaginary friend" afterward... what if she's a rapist? How would you know if she'd raped someone? How would you know if she'd raped ''you?'' I'd wager that there's a few too many people in Gensokyo who have vivid "dreams" about a certain white-haired someone in a green skirt.
