Touhou

What, you think Hanako is going to possess her?

Anything we could offer advice on?

I'll just be honest, I'm really bad at cleaning scans. If you're good at cleaning, you can do it for me, I guess, or introduce me to someone who can do it. For now, I'm just waiting for another scan, which should happen by Monday.

I mean, I'm always bad, and I don't think I've ever put out something I could be truly proud of, but the raw I have for 24 is just super-bad right now.

edited 29th Mar '15 11:58:56 PM by Clarste

Yeah, waiting is probably the easiest solution there. Cleaning is a pain at the best of times, and generally the hardest position to fill for scan groups

Thank you for your hardwork as always!

Surprisingly short chapter, Kosuzu looks so deviously cute when she found her victim someone to use the Ouija board with her! Akyuu's deadpan response to Kosuzu's "This is the best part of having friends" line had me in tears.

Kourin's sporting a pretty ominous look there. If Kourin ever appears in a game proper. I wanna see him stun opponents with his glasses

edited 30th Mar '15 12:32:58 AM by Zansnae793

Akyuu does deadpan very well. Other than that, I like it when she's cheerful, since that contradicts so many fanworks where she's this sickly, old crone in a young body.

Not to spoil who it is, but he sure likes being dramatic. Then again, that probably applies to as many people in Gensokyo as there are people who like trolling or are just jerks.

I'm not sure I've ever seen that

She's usually more of an Ill Girl, right?

Old crones in Touhou are cute little girls, just like everything else.

I think you just denied your own argument?

I don't think you're using the same logic I am.

Marisa's reaction to the incoming Ouija board explaination was quite amusing.

I usually hold back from posting my own impressions of the chapter, because that seem inappropriate somehow, but sitting here right now I can't remember why I felt that would be inappropriate. ...and then I started writing this post and remembered exactly why. I have way too many comments in way too much detail and it's all translation focused.

What I can say though is that I liked the focus on Akyuu in the beginning, but in a bittersweet way because I know from experience that what they talk about in the beginning always ends up being sidelined by the real plot of the chapter. Which is generally less interesting.

Seeing Rinnosuke was fun, and my first thought was "I wonder if Harukawa has been pressuring ZUN to let her draw more men". For those keeping count, his patented FS English-word title was "curious fellow", and then I couldn't resist using the word "curio". Incidentally, I get the feeling that some textbooks out there recommend using "fellow" as the translation of 奴 in all circumstances, which is the worst thing ever, but here I think it has a quaint feeling.

As for the urban legend stuff, I really couldn't care less, and I felt the same way in the WaHH chapter. I guess this doesn't necessarily mean that ULiL's plot will be bad, and in some ways it's probably better not to rely on the players having read these comics to understand what's going on, but I feel like they're just throwaway plots that exist mostly as advertisement. Well, more throwaway than usual even.

Also, apparently someone laughed at the joke I had to tweak, so that's good.

edited 30th Mar '15 6:05:12 AM by Clarste

FS Time!

Oh man Is this the first time we got a definite ETA on Akyuu's remaining lifetime? Until now, it was vague, I think? Just kinda "not long". This is really sad; the only thing that makes it kinda OK is that Akyuu herself isn't bothered by it (yet? )

I touched on it last chapter with the anachronistic reporter guy, but now I'd like to do so again. The presence of more and more glasses in Gensokyo fascinates me a bit A bit of extra Worldbuilding; now we see children with glasses, too. Which is a good thing, of course, for the quality of life in the Village. Does anyone know what the technology level of glasses should be in the time period of Gensokyo in Japan? 'cause I do feel they might be too modern. Until FS, only Rinnosuke (has first grab at all items from the Outside World) and Mamizou (comes from the Outside World) had glasses, I think.

I'm not complaining, by the way It does make for possibilities with headcanons or in fanworks: more and more modern things are becoming more and more commonplace in Gensokyo. Maybe Yukari is sending lots of glasses through, or someone reverse-engineered them, and now there are successful optometrists in the Village. Interesting.

Wow, Marisa looks really short this chapter, now that we see her right next to the teenager. As it should be.

Ouija Boards... for me, one of the most baffling pieces of American Pop Culture. If I didn't consume lots of American media, I wouldn't have any idea what the balls that thing even is or how stupidly it's pronounced compared to its spelling.

Rinnosuke and his shop are indeed being quite overly dramatic here in this chapter ^^

Glasses have been around for quite some time, and Gensoukyou was from around Meiji-Era Japan. Not exactly that anachronistic.

Glasses are super-old. Like, thousands of years old.

Apparently the modern style of frames was invented before 1727. Wikipedia!

edited 30th Mar '15 6:40:13 AM by Clarste

All right So that's settled.

Everyone's favorite collection of eyeballs

thought you were talking about the komeijis

They're no longer mint in box

I should probably read Forbidden Scrollery. I've been saving the chapters as Clarste has been releasing them, but I guess I just haven't gotten around to it.

FS is fairly dark compared to some other Touhou stuff, right? Or at the very least slightly dim.

I'd say so, yes. Though of course one always has to keep in mind that the definition of "dark" in Touhou is always waaaay softer than the rest of most fantasy stuff. ...maybe "a bit more somber" might describe it better? Or "seeming more serious"? Mamizou is a good example here. She's always in super-serious mode.

But, yes, it did have one of the rare on-screen kills in Touhou: Marisa goin' Judge Doom on the Shoe Youkai And the sequel to that, performed by Reimu, in the long-awaited upcoming issue. Or the casual mention of killing by the Snake Guy.

...though WAAAGGHHH!!! did get even on the Newborn-Youkai-Killing-Front with Kasen and the thing she badassly annihilated.

edited 30th Mar '15 10:40:16 AM by FellDeedsAwake

My first thought was Jealousy Sign "Green-Eyed Monster"

I think it's more that Touhou in general has been moving towards a darker tone

Touhou has always been dark, lets not kid ourselves here, it's just never been put into the forefront as much as it is now.

... I actually feel like it's been steadily moving away from darkness. Or perhaps it's more like the perspective has shifted and made the darkness more prominent but also framed in a more bearable way?