Shout Out / Touhou Project

With a series as long running and having as many characters as Touhou, Shout Outs to one thing or another is pretty much inevitable. Full details on all of them on the character page.

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• Many, many references to Alice in Wonderland. Just to give you an idea, Alice Margatroid is heavily designed after the main character (in case her name didn't tip you off enough).
• ZUN is an admitted fanboy of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and as such there are lots of shout outs to that series.
  • Sakuya has several homages to Dio Brando, the overall Big Bad of JoJo, including her time-stop powers (specifically "The World", which is the name of DIO's Stand), knife-throwing skills, and she's associated with vampires (Dio is a vampire, but close enough, right?). Scarlet Weather Rhapsody takes it a step further by giving her attack animations inspired by DIO's from the Capcom fighting game JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future, as well as a DIO costume just to drive the point home.
    • One of her scenes in Impossible Spell Card is named "I Don't Know What Happened", a reference to a scene where DIO uses his Stand to stop Polnareff from ascending a set of stairs.
  • In Marisa and Patchouli's scenario in Subterranean Animism, Patchouli notices that Yuugi didn't spill a drop of her sake during their fight. This is a reference to a part in Phantom Blood, where Will A. Zeppeli tests Johnathan's Hamon skills by having him fight a vampire while holding a glass of wine, instructing him not to spill a single drop.
  • Yuugi has a star-shaped mark on her horn akin to the Joestars' star-shaped birthmark.
  • Remilia asking Marisa "Can you count the number of times you've eaten bread?" is a reference to a line uttered by Dio in Phantom Blood, who asks the exact same question as a But for Me, It Was Tuesday speech after Zeppeli demands to know how many humans he's drained just to heal a minor scar.^note Marisa does remember how many times she's eaten bread... thirteen times. She prefers Japanese food.
  • Marisa uses Jotaro Kujo's Catchphrase "Yare yare da ze" (often translated as "Good grief") after defeating Wriggle in Imperishable Night.
  • One of Kaguya's spellcards in Shoot the Bullet is named "New Impossible Request 'Red Stone of Aja'", the Plot Device from Part 2.
  • Hatate, dressed mostly in purple, uses spirit photography using her cellphone-like camera. Joseph's Stand, Hermit Purple, has the same ability by breaking a camera.
  • Many of the characters have vague or seemingly useless abilities that can be dangerous when used effectively, which is also a recurring theme in JoJo.
  • The name of the series itself may be a JoJo reference — an alternate reading of the kanji in "Touhou" is "Higashikata", the surname of Part 4's protagonist, Josuke.
  • One of Miko's lines in Ten Desires is "Your next line is...", Joseph Joestar's catchphrase.
  • In Marisa's scenario in Hidden Star in Four Seasons, she says "But I refuse!", a line from Diamond is Unbreakable that became a meme around the same time. ZUN stated in an interview that this is his favorite line from JoJo, and him referencing it was inevitable.
  • One of Ichirin's attacks in the fighting games has her doing Jotaro's famous Jaguar Varied Assault with Unzan.
  • If Marisa beats Koishi in Hopeless Masquerade, she says "Before I knew it, I was fightin' someone", a line said by Polnareff in Stardust Crusaders. She then says she didn't know what she was talking about.
  • One of Hecatia's portraits in Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom has the series' infamous "ゴゴゴゴゴ" (menacing) Unsound Effect on it.
  • One of Youmu's skins in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody makes her look like Silver Chariot, Polnareff's Stand.
  • Cirno in Hisotensoku plays very similarly to Pet Shop in Heritage for the Future. However, unlike Pet Shop, who was notoriously overpowered to the point of being tournament banned, Cirno is a Joke Character.
  • The spell card comment for "Divine Treasure 'Salamander Shield'" states that the creatures would at least need blood that doesn't boil, and brings up Esidisi as an example, a pillar man from Battle Tendency whose ability is to heat his blood to boiling temperatures.
  • One of Remillia's win quotes in Immaterial and Missing Power has her say "Useless, useless, useless!", a reference to DIO's Kiai.
  • In Marisa's scenario in Perfect Cherry Blossom, she assumes that Ran is a "long-distance type" of shikigami. This is a reference to a classification of Stands known as "Long Range Stands", which are able to travel long distances away from thier users. This is further supported by the fact that the term is called "Long-Distance Operation Type" in Japanese.
• They only appear onscreen for a split second, but plenty of spell card names contain references.
  • Three of Mamizou's spell cards are references to Genpei Toumaden.^note One is "Reimu" dropping Yin-yang orbs in the same manner as the Buddha enemy in that game. Another is "Byakuren" throwing animal likenesses as the Lute player enemy of the same game. The last one is a giant "Miko" waving her shaku in a similar way to the final boss' showing off before the last battle.
  • One of Shinmyoumaru's spell cards is called "Attack on Dwarf".
  • One of Flandre's spell cards is called "And Then Will There Be None?". This is also where the name for "U.N. Owen Was Her?" comes from.
  • One of Kogasa's spell cards is named "Rainbow Sign "Over The Rainbow"" She also has two spells cards titled "Umbrella Sign "Parasol Star Symphony"" and "Parasol Star Memories", respectively.
  • One of Raiko's spell cards is called "Blue Lady Show".
  • One of Seija's spell cards is called "Reverse Sign 'Evil in the Mirror'"
  • Yukari's infamous train spell card got renamed in Antinomy of Common Flowers to "Unmanned Abandoned Railroad Car Bomb", a reference to a scene in Shin Godzilla, where trains filled with bombs are used to attack Godzilla.
  • One of Aunn's spell cards in Violet Detector is named "Dream Dog '101 Stray Dogs'"
  • One of Nitori's spell cards in Urban Legend in Limbo is called "Bubble Sign 'Fire! Bubble Dragon'"
  • One of Saki's spell cards is named "Agile Skill 'Black Pegasus Meteor Shot'"
  • One of Shou's spell cards is called "Jeweled Pagoda 'Radiant Treasure Gun'"
  • Sagume's final spell card is called "One-Winged White Heron."
  • One of Mamizou's spell cards in Impossible Spell Card is named "Humans Are Nice!", the ED of Manga Nippon Mukashibanashi, a popular children's anime.
  • One of Momoyo's spell cards is cards is named "Oomukade 'Snake Eater'"
  • One of Mokou's spell cards is called "Inextinguishable 'Phoenix's Tail'"
• Stage 6 of Undefined Fantastic Object has rows of fairies that move in a zig-zag pattern and fire bullets straight downwards, as a reference to Space Invaders.
• One of Nue's spell cards in Double Spoiler has her making triangles, squares, circles, and crosses out of bullets. The Grimoire of Usami has Sumireko basically spell out the reference.
  Sumireko: ◯△□✕... I-It's a Playstation! Guess I identified it, lol!
• One strip in Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth contains a reference to the Wizardry series. Also, a certain weapon in the comic is labelled "HHG of Aunty Ock".
  Akyu: (to Reisen) Is it true that you decapitate your prey with your front teeth?

• In Phantasmagoria of Flower View, most times when you defeat an enemy, the game will call them a DEAD PARROT.
• There are references to Fist of the North Star in the fighting games, most notably Hisoutensoku. If Reimu's ultimate spellcard "Fantasy Heaven" ("Musou Tensei" in Japanese, which happens to be a homonym for Kenshiro's ultimate technique, "Unconscious Transmigration of Souls", also pronounced "Musou Tensei") is successfully activated in the third round of a match, the background music will change to a mashup remix of Mystic Oriental Love Consultation and the Fatal KO theme from the Fist Of The North Star fighting games. Fitting because said spell card is a guaranteed knock-out unless the opponent gets very lucky (no, it is not a One-Hit Kill).
  • Utsuho Reiuji's sprite animations greatly resemble those of Souther◊.
• Hong Meiling takes several moves from Yun of Street Fighter fame in the fighting games, including his You Hou super and his lunge punch.
• Miko's powerbar image in Hopeless Masquerade is a modified gaijin 4koma.
• Nitori's Last Word in Hopeless Masquerade is a homage to Snake's Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Its name also references the Super Scope, which, coincidentally, is an item in the Smash series.
• One of Ichirin's skins in the fighting games resembles Index's outfit.
• Seija default pose is a reference to an expression◊ often found in Studio Shaft projects.
• The plot of Double Dealing Character is a Whole-Plot Reference to Revolutionary Girl Utena, where people (youkai) are given power by the resident of an upside-down floating castle to "start a revolution", but their benefactor's actual goals are far more selfish.
• The description for one of Eirin's spellcards refer to "the wheelchair man" and the song "Future Universe of Wheelchair", both being references to Stephen Hawking.
• In the PS4 port of Urban Legend in Limbo, if Reisen beats herself in VS mode, she will comment on the similarity of the Kune-kune to the Hattifnatter.
• The entry for therianthropes in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense mentions "being doused with water" as one of the potential causes for transformation, much like how transformations in Ranma ½ work. In a footnote, some of the animals it mentions are cats, pandas, and piglets, which are what Shampoo, Genma, and Ryōga transform into.
• The entire plot of Hidden Star in Four Seasons is pretty much a Whole-Plot Reference and Homage to Len'en's first game Evanescent Existence, right down to the respective culprits of the incident kick-starting the whole event by secretly pitting the main characters against other characters, while also secretly finding a worthy successor as a protector of their respective Fantasy Kitchen Sinks. The game also implements a flash bomb system, similar to those from Earthen Miraculous Sword onwards.
• The soundtrack CD for Urban Legend in Limbo is called "Sumireko Usami and the Clubroom of Secrets".
• Symposium of Post-mysticism reveals that Kogasa got a babysitting job because she thinks all babysitters fly through the sky using an umbrella.
• If Futo beats Mamizou in Hopeless Masquerade, she states that she finds dressing like a tanuki giving one the ability to fly ridiculous.
• In The Grimoire of Marisa, she questions if riding keystones works like The Flying Nimbus.
  • While documenting Reisen's "Moon of Truth" spell card, she notes "Don't look at stuff that's inconvenient".
• Alernative Facts in Eastern Utopia contains an ad spoofing Hells of Beppu.
• Raiko states in Double Dealing Character that people in the Outside World call skilled drummers "Taiko Drum Masters". Coincidentally, actual Touhou arrangements have appeared in Taiko games beforehand.
• In Chapter 11 of ''Curiosities of Lotus Asia", Yukari finds what's implied to be an original iPod inside of Kourindou. She's the only one there who knows how to use it.
• Cirno's scene in Impossible Spell Card is titled "Gee Cirno, You Sure Are Conceited"
• In Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia, Kokoro names a group of her masks "KKR48".
• In Forbidden Scrollery Akyuu started writing detective novels under the pen name "Agatha Chris Q".
  • One of her novels was submitted in Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia titled "The Mythical Detective: Melissa". It's a straight up fanfiction, complete with suspiciously named OCs.
• In The Grimoire of Usami, Sumireko compares the zombie fairies in Orin's "Corpse Shopping District" Spell Card to The Walking Dead.
• One of Reimu's skins in the fighting games makes her look like Nanoha Takamachi.
• Reisen has skins that make her look like various Vocaloid characters. These include Hatsune Miku, Rin Kagamine, Luka Megurine, Meiko, Kaito, Gakupo Kamui, and Gumi.
• If Komachi beats Patchouli in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody she mentions a book that kills the person whose name is written in it.
• When Mamizou uses "Transformation: Futatsuiwa Family's Clan" on Ichirin in the fighting games, she turns into a monkey.
• Eternity Larva's theme is named "A Midsummer Fairy's Dream".
• Kokoro has a costume that makes her look like Kyoko Kirigiri.
• One of the Nicknames in Impossible Spell Card is "Strike Physically", and its description reads "Victory goes to the swift! Even if you don't raise your level, strike physically!", a Take That! towards Last Rebellion and its notoriously broken level system.
• Jo'on's Last Word in Antinomy of Common Flowers has sound effects taken from Super Marisa Land, a fangame also developed by Twilight Frontier.
• If Sumireko beats Byakuren in Urban Legend in Limbo, she says that Turbo Granny runs on her feet, not a motorcycle, and assumes Byakuren confused it with Ghost Rider.
• Alice has skins in the fighting games that make her dolls look like characters from Rozen Maiden. In Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, one made them look like Hina-Ichigo. Hisoutensoku added ones that made them look like Suiseiseki, Souseiseki, Suigintou, Shinku, Kanaria, and Kirakishou.
• In Kasen's scenario in Urban Legend in Limbo, Sumireko mentions children making whole collections of youkai.
• One of Meiling's C bullet moves in Hisoutensoku is a carbon copy of Krizalid's Typhoon Rage. This is the main reason why they're often paired up with each other in fanart.
• In the first chapter of Forbidden Scrollery, it's revealed that Kosuzu owns a Japanese manuscript of the Necronomicon, and it's implied she uses it to make reprints.
• One of Nitori's spell cards in Hopeless Masquerade has her do Sanpei's Jet Shoot attack.
• In Violet Detector, Sumireko parodies a series of commercials for the Japanese phone carrier au in one of the comments.
• Koishi's ability card in Unconnected Marketeers is called "Pebble Hat", and its description says that the card causes the user to become unnoticed. This also doubles as a pun on Koishi's name, as one of the ways "Koishi" can be read in Japanese roughly translates to "little rock".
• If Yuyuko beats herself in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, she says "Fantastic Ninja Art, Clone Technique~", the Japanese name for the Yu-Gi-Oh! trap card, "Ninjitsu Art of Duplication".
• Kasen has a skin in the fighting games that makes her look like Chun-Li. One of her attacks is also reminiscent of Chun-Li's Senretsu Kyaku.
• According to Word of God, Mayumi was named after Japanese voice actress Mayumi Tanaka, who's mostly known for voicing the main character of an educational children's show called O~i Hanimaru, of which is also a haniwa.
• In chapter six of Wild and Horned Hermit, Kasen reveals that she's been taking care of a pet raijuu, and describes it as "an electric animal". Sanae tries to figure out what it is exactly, and one of her guesses is a Pikachu.
• If Yukari beats Remilia in Hisoutensoku, she asks her if the bat she saw was white or black.
• One of Sumireko's skins in the fighting games resembles Kaito Kid.
• If Sanae defeats Yuuma in Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost, she says that Yuuma looks like a Minidemon.
• Mystic Square is a massive homage to Shin Megami Tensei, particularly Shin Megami Tensei II:
  • Makai as it is depicted here is based on how the Expanse, also called Makai in Japanese, is depicted in II.
  • Alice's design here, her title Girl of Death, and penchant for puppets all reference various aspects of the Alice from the classic Shin Megami Tensei games.
  • Mai is an ice mage with blue hair and a white dress while Yuki is a fire mage in traditional wizard clothing, serving as parallels to Jack Frost and Jack o' Lantern.
  • Yumeko's design is based on the official art for Hanoun, a minor character from II.
  • Pandemonium's design is based on the interior of Kether Castle, Lucifer's stronghold from II. Shinki's boss arena features pillars arranged similarly to those in Lucifer's throne room within Kether, while her six wings are reminiscent of those present in both of Lucifer's designs from that game.