History Fridge / TouhouProject

* The entire premise of ''Foul Detective Satori'' can be seen as RealitySubtext for the UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic. Here, we have an antagonist, an evil spirit, who moves around by possessing people who come into contact with those she's currently possessing, just like a real-world virus. She drains all the magical energy from her host, which has next to no effect on humans (i.e. asymptomatic carriers) but which is absolutely lethal to supernatural beings such as youkai and gods. The characters even begin to implement protocols similar to ones taken in real life to curb the spread of the virus to safeguard themselves from this fiend, like the Moriya Shrine disallowing all visitors, normally a suicidal move given that GodsNeedPrayerBadly in this setting but the alternative is the risk of death, just like a real life business shutting down to protect its employees and customers from COVID. Making things even more eerie is that the series began publication only a month before the first confirmed case, meaning it has paralleled the pandemic throughout possibly its entire lifespan. Even if COVID didn't influence the story in the beginning, it almost certainly affected its themes after not too long.

* Reimu repeatedly showing she's unfamiliar with a lot of the basics of her job could be played off as just showing how lazy she is, except she's canonically an orphan and seems to have been doing this job since she was very young, its very likely the reason she knows so little is because her mother died before she could be properly trained and she was simply thrust into the role and made to figure it out on her own. ''[[FanFic/OsanaReimu Osana Reimu]]'' may not be canon, but it might be eerily close to the truth.

* 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}}.

* 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}}

** Of course, for those who don't really know much beyond the games, Suwako herself confirms this in her win dialogue against herself. -@/{{TARDISES}}

* 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}}

* 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!

* 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.

* 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

* 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}}

* 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}}

* 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

** 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}}

* 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=]

* Some parts of Reisen's Urban Legend in Limbo theme sounds like electronic speech. She's using her ability to make us hear voices.

* 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 (if she doesn't ask Yukari to do [[FateWorseThanDeath something even worse]]), 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...

* Each of the playable characters in ''HiddenStarInfFourSeasons'' corresponds to one of TheFourGods (although Reimu and Cirno are reversed), even sharing a color motif with one of them:

* It seems rather weird that our protagonists would side with Hell during the events of Willy Beasts and Weakest Creatures. Even after they realize they're being manipulated, they don't switch to helping Keiki... until you remember the game takes place in HELL, those human spirits aren't innocent victims, they're sinners who are there to be punished,the fact being miserable under the animal spirits is the whole point

* It seems rather weird that our protagonists would side with hell during the events of Willy Beasts and Weakest Creatures, even after they realise there being manipulated they dont switch to helping Keiki, until you remember the game takes place in HELL, those human spirits arent innocent victims, there sinners who are there to be punished,the fact ther miserable under the animal spirits is the whole point

* Reimu repeatedly showing she's unfamiliar with a lot of the basics of her job could be played off as just showing how lazy she is, except she's canonically an orphan and seems to have been doing this job since she was very young, its very likely the reason she knows so little is because her mother died before she could be properly trained and she was simply thrust into the role and made to figure it out on her own. ''[[FanFic/OsanaReimu Osana Reimu]]'' may not be canon, but might be eerily close to the truth.

* Reimu repeatedly showing she's unfamiliar with a lot of the basics of her job could be played off as just showing how lazy she is, except she's canonically an orphan and seems to have been doing this job since she was very young, its very likely the reason she knows so little is because her mother died before she could be properly trained and she was simply thrust into the role and made to figure it out on her own

* The fact Kasens malice is for some reason concentrated entirely in one arm and acts as a seperate personality seems extremely weird and arbitrary as no other yokai has displayed anything close to this, except she possesses the Ibaraki Box, an item that can heal your body in exchange for turning you into an oni in both body and mind, the fact Kasen is aware it would turn you into an oni would also imply shes seen it happen at least once before, the Kasen we know is the original Kasen, while the malicious personality is the Oni personality created when she drank from the box, the reason it is tied to a single arm is because that arm is what was healed and thus it makes sense a personality born from giving her an arm would be removed by taking that arm away
* Hecatia is stated to be one of if not the most powerful characters in Touhou, its also stated that one of the main reasons gods and yokai are waning is because the phenominon attributed to them have become more understood by science, but Hecatia is a god of hell, what comes after death is something that inherently can not be known by the living and thus will always be the domain of faith rather then science, so it makes sense the gods and yokai of hell would not run into the same problems there earth counterparts would
* Tenshi may not have earned her way into heaven the normal way and her arrogant and rude personality seems to entirely conflict with what a celestial is suppose to be, but at her core she does show an incredible amount of kindness, most of her negative traits come from being sheltered and having a childish playful outlook on everything with no real malice in any of her actions, she willingly chooses to befriend Shion and show her a kindness noone else not even her sister would, even if Tenshi is immune to the direct effects of Shions aura of misfortune the people around her and Shion herself are not, meaning she still has to deal with the indirect misfortune of driving people away, whatever misfortune life decides to throw shions way that day, and likely mobs of angry people harassing them and trying to chase them out of town, which judging by the fact Shions first instinct in WAHH is to hide behind Tenshi are likely mobs Tenshi defended Shion from, alos in WAHH Tenshi suffers like everyone else who ate with Shion, while it appears to just be a hangover compared to the others being bedridden that could imply that while her good luck mitigates Shions bad it doesent entirely counteract it, yet she still chooses to stay by Shions side as her one true friend
* Marisas Mini-Hakkero is obviously based on the actual Hakkero, most famously depicted in the Journey to the west in an attempt to kill Son Wukong, a character noted to have overwhelming power, being impulsive with no respect for authority or the law, searching for several different forms of immortality, and befriending a notable religious figure who he helps deal with various kinds of monsters, some of whom they end up befriending afterwards, sounds familiar doesent it?

* 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.

* Reimu repeatedly showing she's unfamiliar with a lot of the basics of her job could be played off as just showing how lazy she is, except she's canonically an orphan and seems to have been doing this job since she was very young, its very likely the reason she knows so little is because her mother died before she could be properly trained and she was simply thrust into the role and made to figure it out on her own
* During ''Unconnected Marketeers'', there is a light rain that occurs at the beginning of Stage 1, and a rainbow surrounding the moon in Stage 6. Rainbows are the result of the reflection, refraction, and dispersion of light through water droplets lingering in the atmosphere, so that drizzle in Stage 1 is the very reason that there was enough moisture in the air for the moonbow, and thus Chimata Tenkyuu, to appear in stage 6.

* 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 attractive 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
* Sumireko's "Dream Fantasy Disease" likely isn't a condition one has by chance, Gensokyo is designed to take in things that are forgotten in the outside world, and Sumireko is explicitly stated to have no friends, she has this condition because nobody thinks or cares about her, this potentially extends to her own parrents not paying much attention to her, its possible this "disease" is entirely fictional and was made up to avoid just outright telling her she is unloved, unwanted, and the world would not notice if she disapeared forever.
** Fortunately, unlikely. Chapters of Curioisites of Lotus Asia have sections written from the perspective of Rinnosuke and other non-Sumireko characters-- even within their own internal monologues, they discuss Sumireko's Dream Syndrome as a real thing. The existential horror comes in the form of what this syndrome actually means for Sumireko's humanity, as her body in Gensokyo is apparently a {{Doppelganger}}.
** Reimu repeatedly showing she's unfamiliar with a lot of the basics of her job could be played off as just showing how lazy she is, except she's canonically an orphan and seems to have been doing this job since she was very young, its very likely the reason she knows so little is because her mother died before she could be properly trained and she was simply thrust into the role and made to figure it out on her own

* * Reimu repeatedly showing shes unfamiliar with a lot of the basics of her job could be played off as just showing how lazy she is, except shes canonically an orphan and seems to have been doing this job since she was very young, its very likely the reason she knows so little is because her mother died before she could be properly trained and she was simply thrust into the role and made to figure it out on her own

* Marisas Mini-Hakkero is obviously based on the actual Hakkero, most famously depicted in the Journey to the west in an attempt to kill Son Wukong, a character noted to have overwhelming power, being impulsive with no respect for authority or the law, searching for several different forms of immortality, and befriending a notable religious figure who he helps deal with various kinds of monsters, some of whom they end up befriending afterwards, sounds familiair doesent it?

* Sumireko's "Dream Fantasy Disease" likely isn't a condition one has by chance, Gensokyo is designed to take in things that are forgotten in the outside world, and Sumireko is explicitly stated to have no friends, she has this condition because nobody thinks or cares about her, this potentially extends to her own parrents not paying much attention to her, its possible this "disease" is entirely fictional and was made up to avoid just outright telling her she is unloved, unwanted, and the world would not notice if she disapeared forever.

* Sumirekos "Dream Fantasy Disease" likely isent a condition one has by chance, Gensokyo is designed to take in things that are forgotten in the outside world, and Sumireko is explicitly stated to have no friends, she has this condition because nobody thinks or cares about her, this potentailly extends to her own parrents not paying much attention to her, its possible this "disease" is entirely fictional and was made up to avoid just outright telling her she is unloved, unwanted, and the world would not notice if she disapeared forever

* 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...

** 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.

* Tenshi may not have earned her way into heaven the normal way and her arragent and rude personality seems to entirely conflict with what a celestial is suppose to be, but at her core she does show an inredible amount of kindness, most of her negative traits come from being sheltered and having a childish playful outlook on everything with no real malice in any of her actions, she willingly chooses to befriend Shion and show her a kindness noone else not even her sister would, even if Tenshi is immune to the direct effects of Shions aura of misfortune the people around her and Shion herself are not, meaning she still has to deal with the indirect misfortune of driving people away, whatever misfortune life decides to throw shions way that day, and likely mobs of angry people harassing them and trying to chase them out of town, which judging by the fact Shions first instinct in WAHH is to hide behind Tenshi are likely mobs Tenshi defended Shion from, alos in WAHH Tenshi suffers like everyone else who ate with Shion, while it appears to just be a hangover compared to the others being bedridden that could imply that while her good luck mitigates Shions bad it doesent entirely counteract it, yet she still chooses to stay by Shions side as her one true friend

* 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

* The fact Kasens malice is for some reason concentrated entirely in one arm and acts as a seperate personality seems extremely weird and arbitrary as no other yokai has displayed anything close to this, except she possesses the Ibaraki Box, an item that can heal your body in exchange for turning you into an oni in both body and mind, the fact Kasen is aware it would turn you into an oni would also imply shes seen it happen at least once before, the Kasen we know is the original Kasen, while the malicious personality is the Oni personality created when she drank from the box, the reason it is tied to a single arm is because that arm is what was healed and thus when she was transformed into an oni it became host to her new yokai half