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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/changeability_of_strange_dream_350x346_1856.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:Maribel on the left, Renko on the right]]
3
4->''"There's two ways for me to help her: First, I could throw the stuff away and convince her that it was all a dream or a hallucination. That way she won't bring the dream world into this one again; dream and reality stay separate things. And the second... is to convince her that she really was in another world, and awaken her from the dream. That way, she wouldn't die in that dream world without knowing the truth. But if I did that, she might not be able to come back... Which is best for Mary? What should I do? The answer is obvious."''
5-->-- '''Renko Usami''', ''Changeability of Strange Dream''
6
7In addition to the main ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' video game series, and [[FanMyopia strangely overshadowed by the franchise's own fanfiction]], are a number of canon {{Spin Off}}s including comics and other print materials. ''ZUN's Music Collection'' is a set of instrumental albums consisting of songs from ''Franchise/TouhouProject'', ''VideoGame/{{Seihou}}'' and related works (often heavily rearranged), as well as original compositions. Accompanying each album is [[ConceptAlbum a short story, with one segment matched to each track]].
8
9[[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness From the second album on]], these stories follow the adventures of Renko Usami and Maribel "Mary" Hearn, a pair of college-age [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything "necromancers"]] who interact only vaguely with the rest of ''Touhou'''s cast and setting - not only do they live in the "normal" Japan outside of [[FantasticNaturePreserve Gensokyo]], but their stories are set [[TwentyMinutesInTheFuture an unspecified amount of time in the future]]. The Sealing Club, as they call themselves, spend most of their time [[SeekerArchetype hunting for the supernatural]], with the aid of Renko's ability to tell the time and location from the stars, and Maribel's ability to [[TrueSight see boundaries]]. Over the course of the series Maribel's powers over boundaries grow stronger and stronger, and she is implied to have some connection to Gensokyo's founder [[Characters/TouhouYouyoumuPerfectCherryBlossom Yukari Yakumo]] (or even ''[[TimeTravel be]]'' Yukari [[OriginsEpisode at a younger age]]).
10
11Despite their less overtly supernatural setting, the album stories are one of the darkest parts of ''Touhou'' lore, with themes of loss, fate, and insanity. Likewise the songs themselves (even the remixes) are often grim and creepy, to the point where ZUN described the first album as "un-healing music".
12
13All volumes are available for purchase on [=iTunes=] worldwide, and can be streamed on Spotify as well as [=YouTube=] Music with a Premium subscription. However, ''Dr. Latency's Freak Report'' was delisted from the US [=iTunes=] Store in late 2020 for unknown reasons.
14
15!!! List of tracks and origins by album:
16[[foldercontrol]]
17
18[[folder:Vol. 1: Hourai Ningyou ~ Dolls in Pseudo Paradise (2002)]]
19
20'''''Translation:''' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hourai Hourai]] Doll ~ Dolls in Pseudo Paradise''
21# Legend of Hourai [-(original)-]
22# Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly ~ Red and White [-(''Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly ~ Ancients''; Reimu Hakurei's theme from ''[[VideoGame/{{Seihou}} Shuusou Gyoku]]'')-]
23# Lovely Mound of Cherry Blossoms ~ Japanese Flower [-(''Lovely Mound of Cherry Blossoms ~ Flower of Japan''; Yuuka Kazami's theme from ''[[VideoGame/{{Seihou}} Kioh Gyoku]]'')-]
24# Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17 [-(Hong Meiling's theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouKoumakyouTheEmbodimentOfScarletDevil'')-]
25# Eastern Strange Discourse [-(Theme of Hell (Level 6-9) from ''VideoGame/TouhouReiidenHighlyResponsiveToPrayers'')-]
26# Enigmatic Doll [-(''Enigmatic Doll ~ God Knows''; Muse's from ''[[VideoGame/{{Seihou}} Kioh Gyoku]]'')-]
27# Circus Reverie [-(''Mechanical Circus ~ Reverie''; Marie's theme from ''[[VideoGame/{{Seihou}} Shuusou Gyoku]]'')-]
28# Forest of Dolls [-(original)-]
29# Witch of Love Potion [-(From ''VideoGame/TorteLeMagic'')-]
30# Reincarnation [-(Mima's theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouYumejikuuPhantasmagoriaOfDimDream'')-]
31# U.N. Owen Was Her? [-(Flandre Scarlet's theme from ''Embodiment of Scarlet Devil'')-]
32# Eternal Shrine Maiden [-(Theme of Levels 1-4 and Hell Levels 16-19 from ''Highly Responsive to Prayers'')-]
33# The Strange Everyday Life of the Flying Shrine Maiden [-(original)-]
34[[/folder]]
35
36[[folder:Vol. 2: Rendaino Yakou ~ Ghostly Field Club (2003)]]
37
38'''''Translation:''' Night Trip to Rendaino ~ Ghostly Field Club''
39# Passing on Through the Dendera Fields in the Night [-(original)-]
40# Girls' Secret Sealing Club [-(original)-]
41# Eastern Ghostly Dream ~ Ancient Temple [-(Stage 5 theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouYouyoumuPerfectCherryBlossom'')-]
42# Ancient Temple of the Netherworld [-(original)-]
43# Illusionary Night ~ Ghostly Eyes [-([[OlderThanTheyThink later appeared]] in ''VideoGame/TouhouEiyashouImperishableNight'')-][[invoked]]
44# Merry the Magician [-(original)-]
45# Strange Bird of the Moon, Illusion of the Mysterious Cat [-(original)-]
46# Flower of Past Days ~ Fairy of Flower [-(Unused track from ''Perfect Cherry Blossom'')-]
47# Magical Girl's Crusade [-(Erich's theme from ''[[VideoGame/{{Seihou}} Shuusou Gyoku]]'')-]
48# A Maiden's Illusionary Funeral ~ Necro-Fantasy [-(Ran Yakumo's theme from ''Perfect Cherry Blossom'')-]
49# Eternal Festival of Illusions [-(original)-]
50[[/folder]]
51
52[[folder:Vol. 3: Yumetagae Kagaku Seiki ~ Changeability of Strange Dream (2004)]]
53
54'''''Translation:''' Changing Dreams in the Age of Science ~ Changeability of Strange Dream''
55# Kid's Festival ~ Innocent Treasures [-(original)-]
56# Dream of Huaxu [-(original)-]
57# Shanghai Teahouse ~ Chinese Tea [-(Stage 3 theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouKoumakyouTheEmbodimentOfScarletDevil'')-]
58# Voyage 1969 [-(Final Stage theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouEiyashouImperishableNight'')-]
59# Boys and Girls of the Science Era [-(original)-]
60# Retribution for the Eternal Night ~ Imperishable Night [-(Stage 4 theme from ''Imperishable Night'')-]
61# Night Falls ~ Evening Star [-(Yukari Yakumo's theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouSuimusouImmaterialAndMissingPower'')-]
62# Doll Judgment ~ The Girl who Played with People's Shapes [-(Alice Margatroid's theme from ''Perfect Cherry Blossom'')-]
63# Border Between Dreams and Reality [-(original)-]
64# Fantasy Machine ~ Phantom Factory [-(''Illusory Science ~ Doll's Phantom''; VIVIT's second theme from ''[[VideoGame/{{Seihou}} Shuusou Gyoku]]'')-]
65# Mystical Maple ~ Eternal Dream [-(''Eternal Dream ~ Mystical Maple''; Staff Roll theme from ''Imperishable Night'')-]
66[[/folder]]
67
68[[folder:Vol. 4: Bouyu Toukaidou ~ Retrospective 53 minutes (2006)]]
69
70'''''Translation:''' East-West [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tōkaidō_(road) Toukaidou]] ~ Retrospective 53 minutes''
71# Hiroshige No.36 ~ Neo Super-Express [-(original)-]
72# Blue Sea of 53 Minutes [-(original)-]
73# Flight of the Bamboo Cutter ~ Lunatic Princess [-(Kaguya Houraisan's theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouEiyashouImperishableNight'')-]
74# Higan Retour ~ Riverside View [-(Komachi Onozuka's theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouKaeidzukaPhantasmagoriaOfFlowerView'')-]
75# Legend of Aokigahara [-(original)-]
76# White Flag of Usa Shrine [-(Tewi Inaba's theme from ''Phantasmagoria of Flower View'')-]
77# Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke [-(Fujiwara no Mokou's theme from ''Imperishable Night'')-]
78# Retrospective Kyoto [-(Photo Theme 4 from ''VideoGame/TouhouBunkachouShootTheBullet'')-]
79# Locked Girl ~ The Girl's Secret Room [-(Patchouli Knowledge's theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouKoumakyouTheEmbodimentOfScarletDevil'')-]
80# Gensokyo Millennium ~ History of the Moon [-(Eirin Yagokoro's theme from ''Imperishable Night'')-]
81# The Purest Sky and Sea [-(original)-]
82[[/folder]]
83
84[[folder:Vol. 5: Oozora Majutsu ~ Magical Astronomy (2006)]]
85
86'''''Translation:''' Celestial Wizardry ~ Magical Astronomy''
87# Welcome to the Moon Tour [-(original)-]
88# Greenwich in the Sky [-(original)-]
89# Sleepless Night of the Eastern Country [-(Photo Theme 3 from ''VideoGame/TouhouBunkachouShootTheBullet'')-]
90# The Wheelchair's Future in Space [-(original)-]
91# Demystify Feast [-(Hakurei Shrine [Feasty Day] theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouSuimusouImmaterialAndMissingPower'')-]
92# Satellite Café Terrace [-(original)-]
93# G Free [-(original)-]
94# [[TitleTrack Celestial Wizardry ~ Magical Astronomy]] [-(original)-]
95# Necrofantasia [-(Yukari Yakumo's theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouYouyoumuPerfectCherryBlossom'')-]
96# The Far Side of the Moon [-(original)-]
97[[/folder]]
98
99[[folder:Vol. 5.5: Michi no Hana, Michi no Tabi (2011)]]
100
101'''''Translation:''' Unknown Flower, Mesmerizing Journey''
102# [[TitleTrack Unknown Flower, Mesmerizing Journey]] [-(original)-]
103# Bell of Avici ~ Infinite Nightmare [-(Event Coverage 4 from ''VideoGame/DoubleSpoilerTouhouBunkachou'')-]
104# Tomorrow Will Be Special, Yesterday Was Not [-(Extra Stage theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouFuujinrokuMountainOfFaith'')-]
105[[/folder]]
106
107[[folder:Vol. 6: Torifune Iseki ~ Trojan Green Asteroid (2012)]]
108
109'''''Translation:''' Ruins of Torifune ~ Trojan Green Asteroid''
110# Satellite TORIFUNE [-(original)-]
111# Trojan Asteroid Jungle [-(original)-]
112# Desire Drive [-(Stage 4 theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouShinreibyouTenDesires'')-]
113# The Fairies' Adventurous Tale [-(From the bonus CD with volume 3 of ''[[Manga/TouhouSangetsusei Eastern and Little Nature Deity]]'')-]
114# Ame-no-Torifune Shrine [-(original)-]
115# UFO Romance in the Night Sky [-(Extra Stage theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouSeirensenUndefinedFantasticObject'')-]
116# Hartmann's Youkai Girl [-(Koishi Komeiji's theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouChireidenSubterraneanAnimism'')-]
117# The Barrier of Ame-no-Torifune Shrine [-(original)-]
118# Emotional Skyscraper ~ Cosmic Mind [-(Byakuren Hijiri's theme from ''Undefined Fantastic Object'')-]
119# The Gensokyo That Floats in Outer Space [-(original)-]
120[[/folder]]
121
122[[folder:Vol. 7: Izanagi Busshitsu ~ Neo-traditionalism of Japan. (2012)]]
123
124'''''Translation:''' Izanagi Object ~ Neo-traditionalism of Japan.''
125# Green Sanatorium [-(original)-]
126# Led On by a Cow to Visit Zenkou Temple [-(original)-]
127# Heartfelt Fancy [-(Stage 4 theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouChireidenSubterraneanAnimism'')-]
128# Eastern Judgement in the Sixtieth Year ~ Fate of Sixty Years [-(Eiki Shiki, Yamaxanadu's theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouKaeidzukaPhantasmagoriaOfFlowerView'')-]
129# Wind of Agartha [-(original)-]
130# [[TitleTrack Izanagi Object]] [-(original)-]
131# Youkai Back Shrine Road [-(Extra Stage theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouShinreibyouTenDesires'')-]
132# Unknown X ~ Unfound Adventure [-(CPU Last Stage/Nuclear Reactor Fusion Core theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouHisoutensokuChoudokyuuGinyoruNoNazoOOe'')-]
133# Gathering the Mysterious from All Around Japan [-(original)-]
134# Let's Live in a Lovely Cemetery [-(Stage 3 theme from ''Ten Desires'')-]
135[[/folder]]
136
137[[folder:Vol. 8: Enseki Hakubutsushi ~ Dr.Latency's Freak Report (2016)]]
138
139'''''Translation:''' Swallowstone [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_History_(Pliny) Naturalis Historia]] ~ Dr. Latency's Freak Report''
140
141# The Childlike Duo's Naturalis Historia [-(original)-]
142# The Frozen Eternal Capital [-(Stage 4 theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouKanjudenLegacyOfLunaticKingdom'')-]
143# Dr. Latency's Sleepless Eyes [-(original)-]
144# September Pumpkin [-(Ringo's theme from ''Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom'')-]
145# An Instant that Exceeds Planck's Time [-(original)-]
146# Schrödinger's Bakeneko [-(original)-]
147# The Shining Needle Castle Sinking in the Air [-(Stage 5 theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouKishinjouDoubleDealingCharacter'')-]
148# The Taboo Membrane Wall [-(original)-]
149#The Sea that Reflects One's Home Planet [-(Final Stage theme from ''Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom'')-]
150# Pure Furies ~ Whereabouts of the Heart [-(Junko's theme from ''Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom'')-]
151# Eternal Transient Reign [-(Fourth Stage Theme from ''VideoGame/DanmakuAmanojakuImpossibleSpellCard'')-]
152
153[[/folder]]
154
155[[folder:Vol. 9: Kyūyaku Sakaba ~ Dateless Bar "Old Adam" (2016)]]
156
157'''''Translation:''' Old Testament Tavern ~ Dateless Bar "Old Adam"''
158
159# "Old Adam" Bar [-(original)-]
160# The Darkness Brought In by Swallowstone Naturalis Historia [-(original)-]
161# Reverse Ideology [-(Seija Kijin's theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouKishinjouDoubleDealingCharacter'')-]
162# Outsider's Cocktail [-(original)-]
163# Omiwa Legend [-(Mononobe no Futo's theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouShinreibyouTenDesires'')-]
164# Pandemonic Planet [-(Hecatia Lapislazuli's theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouKanjudenLegacyOfLunaticKingdom'')-]
165# Adventurer's Tavern of the Old World [-(original)-]
166# Rural Makai City Esoteria [-(Stage 5 theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouSeirensenUndefinedFantasticObject'')-]
167# The Lost Emotion [-(Hata no Kokoro's theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouShinkirouHopelessMasquerade'')-]
168# Hangover of Bedfellows Dreaming Differently [-(original)-]
169
170[[/folder]]
171
172[[folder:Vol. 9.5: Nijiiro no Seputentorion (2021)]]
173
174'''''Translation:''' Rainbow-Colored Septentrion''
175# The Wolves of Nanatsuishi Dash to Seize the Clouds [-(original)-]
176# Illusionary White Traveler [-(Stage 4 theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouTenkuushouHiddenStarInFourSeasons'')-]
177# Where Is That Bustling Marketplace Now ~ Immemorial Marketeers [-(Chimata Tenkyuu's theme from ''VideoGame/TouhouKouryuudouUnconnectedMarketeers'')-]
178[[/folder]]
179
180----
181!!''ZUN's Music Collection'' provides examples of:
182[[folder:General Tropes]]
183* AmbiguousTimePeriod:
184** It's left unclear when ''Dolls in Pseudo Paradise'' takes place relative to the rest of the ''Touhou'' series, though it's commonly assumed to be taking place sometime in the past.
185** The Sealing Club's story takes place some amount of time in the future from the rest of the ''Touhou'' series, which takes place more or less in the present day, with estimates ranging from several decades to more than a century. It's at least far enough in the future that a unified theory of physics has been achieved, Mt. Fuji has managed to become a World Nature Heritage Site rather than just a cultural one, Nagano is implied to have had its name reverted back to Shinshuu, and the term "e-book" has fallen out of fashion because the vast majority of information is disseminated through cyberspace. Despite this, according to a note in "Perfect Memento in Strict Sense" and ''Neo-traditionalism of Japan'', [[NextSundayAD Cellphones as we'd recognize them are still in use.]]
186* CanonImmigrant: A variation of this trope applied to music rather than characters. Many of the tracks in the earlier albums are arrangements of music ZUN had originally composed for ''VideoGame/{{Seihou}}''. Of particular note are Reimu and Yuuka's ''Seihou'' themes, "Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly ~ Ancients" and "Lovely Mound of Cherry Blossoms ~ Flower of Japan", which were arranged in ''Dolls in Pseudo Paradise'' as "Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly ~ Red and White" and "Lovely Mound of Cherry Blossoms ~ Japanese Flower".
187* ChronologicalAlbumTitle: The numbers are part of the titles.
188* ConceptAlbum: The songs in most of the albums are accompanied by an original story.
189* DarkerAndEdgier: These stories are much darker and more cynical than the core series as well as the music having a much moodier tone. ''Dolls in Pseudo Paradise'' in particular is perhaps the darkest story ever told in the ''Touhou'' series with its gruesome deaths, EverybodyDiesEnding, and close examination of what often happens to those who get spirited away to Gensokyo.
190* InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt: ''ZUN's Music Collection''
191* {{Leitmotif}}: Many of the tracks in these albums are arrangements of boss themes from the games. In addition to this, ''Changeability of Strange Dream'' introduces "Kid's Festival ~ Innocent Treasures", which is ''ZUN's'' own theme.
192* LongRunners: ''Dolls in Pseudo Paradise'' first released in 2002 and new albums have been released for almost 20 years.
193* SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness: In contrast to the games and most of the manga, the CD stories are much more serious in tone with less comedy and jokes.
194* WorkInfoTitle: The title of the series not only [[InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt tells you who wrote it]], but also that it's a music collection.
195[[/folder]]
196
197[[folder:Tropes in Dolls in Pseudo Paradise]]
198* AMillionIsAStatistic: The last words of the story.
199-->''There are eight less people in this paradise, "Gensokyo", and seven corpses were carried off by youkai. Gensokyo has lost these honest men forever. It's just a change in the population count. Not important news in the least.''
200* AppearanceIsInTheEyeOfTheBeholder: The MonsterClown appears slightly differently to those who observe it with one describing it as mysterious, another as sinister while yet another described it as beautiful.
201* CoolGate: The honest men enter Gensokyo through an entrance hidden in a peach tree.
202* DarknessEqualsDeath: The third honest man dies when he decides to run off into the darkness while everyone else is partying and gets beheaded by the monster clown, while the wisest is backstabbed while sitting in the darkness.
203* {{Deconstruction}}: It doesn't shy away from showing how it would be for a group of people who suddenly found themselves in Gensokyou. They are both confused and lost, and one by one start to fall prey to a strange youkai.
204* DownerEnding: Seven of the honest men die in horrible ways. The murderer is revealed to be the surviving one, who became a youkai at some point without realizing it. Horrified, she commits suicide, but as youkai can't die, she only manages to kill what was left of her humanity. The incident is shrugged off as another one in the statistic and not given a second thought after that. And the girl leaves Gensokyo, probably to cause more havoc.
205* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''Dolls in Pseudo Paradise'' was released only a few months after ''[[ContinuityReboot Embodiment of Scarlet Devil]]'', and is extremely weird both compared to the later albums and by ''Touhou'' standards in general. Making things weirder, it had a completely different story when it was re-released.
206* EveryoneDiesEnding: All of the honest men die, seven brutally murdered, and the remaining one loses her humanity.
207* {{Foreshadowing}}:
208** The revised story for ''Legend of Hourai'' mentions [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaguyahime Princess Kaguya]] and the Jeweled Branch of Hourai. Kaguya would later appear in person in the third Windows ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' game ''Imperishable Night''.
209** The revised story for ''Lovely Mound of Cherry Blossoms ~ Japanese Flower'' mentions a girl sleeping under a cherry tree and how its petals are soaked in red. It's a clear reference to Yuyuko and the Saigyou Ayakashi from ''Perfect Cherry Blossom''.
210* InTheBack: The fifth honest man is killed by getting stabbed in the back with a hot object.
211* {{Miko}}: A (presumably) Hakurei shrine maiden shows up, though it's ambiguous whether or not it's Reimu or one of her predecessors that the second honest man observes dancing in the sky.
212* MindScrew: What exactly was going on in ''Dolls in Pseudo Paradise''? Is the story set in the past or the present, and how many narrators are speaking? Is the girl an existing Touhou character or just a random {{youkai}}? Is the first version of the story even still canon? Why is there a ''[[MonsterClown clown]]''?
213* MonsterClown: An evil, murderous clown appears [[MindScrew without explanation]].
214* NailEm: The fate of the sixth honest man was to be nailed to a tree with the last one being pounded through his forehead.
215* NoHonorAmongThieves: A literal example in the case of the "honest" men, who have no issue leaving one of their own to die at the hands of a mysterious youkai.
216* OffWithHisHead: The first and third honest men die by being beheaded by the monster clown.
217* OutWithABang: It's implied that the fifth honest man died from being murdered in his sleep after a sexual encounter with "a beautiful pierrot".
218* TheSmurfettePrinciple: The fourth honest person is the only girl of the group. She's also the one behind the murders, having become a youkai without realizing it.
219* UnreliableNarrator: The story is told in first person from several different characters, leading this trope to be pretty much guaranteed. It starts with them referring to themselves as "honest men" when they are heavily implied to be a group of thieves on the run, and it pretty much escalates from there.
220* WholePlotReference: The story is basically one long reference to ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone''.
221[[/folder]]
222
223[[folder:Tropes in the Sealing Club stories]]
224* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The Secret Sealing Club's stories takes place in a future that is somewhat recognizable but much more advanced than our own, in which people have managed to conquer space travel with ease, a bullet train can go from Kyoto towards Tokyo (and presumably to other prefectures) at 53 minutes time, the vast majority of information is disseminated through cyberspace, and automobiles have become obsolete. On the other side of the spectrum, however, most plant and animal-life has become extinct, and some food has to use "artificial" flavoring to taste like how it was before.
225* AdventurersClub: This is the entire shtick of the Secret Sealing Club, being a club about exploring the unknown and what lies beyond the boundary, as well to explore what the world was in the past before their time.
226* ArtificialOutdoorsDisplay: ''Retrospective 53 Minutes'' is set on an underground train where the interior walls are screens, displaying prettified versions of the scenery above ground.
227* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: "Maribel" is just the most popular reading among fans - the transcription of her name in katakana is "maeriiberi", which ZUN just picked as something that sounded [[NonSpecificallyForeign generically foreign]] and difficult to pronounce, rather than trying to match an actual name. When asked directly at Anime Weekend Atlanta 2013, ZUN even admitted that he has no idea what the proper romanization of the name would be.
228* BadGuyBar: As a general rule, any old-style bar in Maribel's and Renko's time are both much dirtier and worn down compared to any new-style bar. They also tend to attract all kinds of shady people, "Old Adam" being one such bar.
229* BrainFever: A possible example in ''Neo-traditionalism of Japan'' in the form of Maribel's visions while she was hospitalized.
230* TheCameo: In Maribel's dream-travels in ''Changeability of Strange Dream'' she visits what appears to be the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and someone there gives her cookies. Later she finds herself in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost and gets saved from a {{youkai}} by Fujiwara no Mokou, but is frightened away by her [[RedEyesTakeWarning inhuman eyes]].
231* CatsAreMean: The chimera that attacks Maribel and Renko while they explore the satellite TORIFUNE in ''Trojan Green Asteroid'' is described by Renko as something akin to a winged cat.
232* {{Chuunibyou}}: The story of ''Dateless Bar "Old Adam"'' focuses on chuunibyou as a general theme, in the form of the adults Maribel and Renko meet that are obsessed with the stories about Gensokyo told by the former's pseudonym, Dr. Latency.
233* CrapsackWorld: While Maribel and Renko's world has many wonders of technology, it is also one where many edible plants [[FutureFoodIsArtificial are only available as synthetics]], and where "children do not smile".
234* CuteMonsterGirl:
235** Notably {{averted}} in ''Changeability of Strange Dream''. The {{youkai}} rabbits in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost are normally presented as cute and harmless, appearing either LittleBitBeastly or as normal rabbits drawn in SuperDeformed style. However, Maribel encounters ''something'' in the forest that's considerably less so. Possibly justified by [[TimeTravel the time period in which she arrived]] (hundreds of years before the creation of the Great Hakurei Barrier and the resulting shift in youkai behaviour), as a form of GlamourFailure, or simply a type of youkai which hasn't appeared in other media.
236-->But, oh, what I saw with my own eyes! Nowadays, for extinct species like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honshu_wolf Japanese wolves]] or [[{{Kappa}} kappas]], it is the era when you can see them in 3D CG... Even so, I've never seen such a large creature as the one in front of me.\
237It was bigger than a Japanese wolf; a mouse-like black thing. Only its eyes were [[RedEyesTakeWarning shining red]] ...No, was it a rabbit? Its eyes were also red. But eye's position looked odd for a rabbit. It had two eyes directly in the front of its head, like how yours are. Although I guess all humans are mostly like that.\
238The size of its face was same as that of human. Or maybe it was a human's face? Yes, a human's face. It was a face. Definitely. Do you know of a beast like a large mouse with a human face?
239** Maribel describes the youkai she encounters in ''Dr. Latency's Freak Report'' as humanoid, though not particularly friendly.
240* DarkReprise: ''Trojan Green Asteroid'' contains a particularly moody rendition of Hartmann's Youkai Girl, Koishi Komeiji's {{Leitmotif}}.
241* {{Dystopia}}:
242** In the future Kyouto in which Maribel and Renko live, while they are able to live relatively comfortably, it's clear that the world is seriously screwed up. As previously mentioned, many edible plants are extinct and food has to be artificially created, and it's made clear that the scenery they view when traveling using the Hiroshige line in ''Retrospective 53 minutes'' is fake (it even comes with its own credits sequence). All of this while a fear of the unknown, bordering on paranoia, is deeply ingrained in their society.
243** In ''Dateless Bar "Old Adam"'' it's offhandedly mentioned that medicine has become so advanced, and human lifespan so long, that [[WeWillHaveEuthanasiaInTheFuture lifespan regulations]] are being introduced.
244* EndOfAnAge: In the Sealing Club's time, humanity has fully entered "the age of science", with no major mysteries left to uncover. Paradoxically this has led to a new wave of superstition, with everyone either fearing the unknown or craving it.
245* EpicRocking: ''Magical Astronomy''[='=]s cover of Necrofantasia is 6:41 min, and ''Trojan Green Asteroid''[='=]s cover of Emotional Skyscraper ~ Cosmic Mind is about 7:41 min.
246* ExtinctInTheFuture: The future world of Maribel Hearn and Renko Usami has had many edible plant species go extinct, forcing them to artificially create some foods.
247* FictionalDocument: ''Swallowstone Naturalis Historia'', a book written by Maribel under the name Dr. Latency which describes her many experiences of her dreams connected to Gensokyou.
248* FirstPersonPerspective: Most of ''Changeability of Strange Dream'' is told from Maribel's perspective, save for the last two portions, which are told from Renko's.
249* {{Foreshadowing}}: When questioned why she has a photo of the Netherworld, Renko's line in ''Ghostly Field Club'' won't make sense until the release of ''Urban Legend in Limbo'' 12 years later.
250-->"[[LegacyCharacter I have a back and forth route you don't know about, Merry.]]"
251* GaiasLament: Maribel and Renko's world has little to no nature, most food is artificial, and many edible plants have gone extinct.
252* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Maribel comes close to madness as her powers increase and start letting her see into other realities [[PowerIncontinence all the time with no way to turn it off]]. Making things worse, she's convinced that one of these realities is ''Hell''.
253-->"I already told you, I'm fine. It's just... maybe I feel ''too'' fine. Like I'm able to [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow see more than I should]]."
254* HollowWorld: In ''Neo-traditionalism of Japan'' Maribel reminisces about the time she visited Yomotsu-Hirasaka, the Shinto land of the dead, located deep within the Earth. Fittingly, the song and segment title for that particular section is "Agartha Wind", after the esoteric city believed to be located within the Earth's core.
255* IShouldWriteABookAboutThis: The plot of ''Dr. Latency's Freak Report'' is about Renko and Maribel writing a book about the latter's experiences in Gensokyo.
256* InvisibleToNormals: In ''Neo-traditionalism of Japan'', the true forms of the titular Izanagi Objects, such as the spear Ame-no-Sakahoko, are invisible to those without powers such as Maribel's special sight and the willingness to believe in them.
257* LegacyCharacter: {{Inverted|Trope}}. The game ''Urban Legend in Limbo'' eventually introduced Sumireko Usami, a [[PsychicPowers psychic]] high-school student with a similar name to Renko[[note]]Aside from sharing the same surname, they both use FloralThemeNaming - ''ren'' means "lotus" and ''sumire'' means "violet".[[/note]] and similar "dream-travelling" abilities to Maribel, who founded the original Sealing Club in 2015 and is widely assumed to be Renko's ancestor.
258* LossOfIdentity: A possible fate for Maribel, who Renko believes is slowly becoming more and more like a {{Youkai}}.
259* LostWorld: ''Trojan Green Asteroid'' features TORIFUNE, an ecology research space station that malfunctioned and drifted out of its original orbit to about 380,000 km away from the Earth[[note]]Roughly the average distance from Earth to the Moon[[/note]], and which has since transformed into a jungle of mutant plants and animals.
260* MasqueradingAsTheUnseen: In ''Dateless Bar "Old Adam"'' Maribel encounters a man claiming to be "Dr. Latency", the anonymous author of ''Swallowstone Naturalis Historia'', but is unable to [[ConfrontingYourImposter confront him]] without revealing that she is Dr. Latency herself. For added {{Irony}}, ''he'' accuses ''Maribel'' of being a fraud when she starts talking about her experiences, claiming she's just repeating the contents of the book.
261* MeaningfulName: Maribel Hearn is named after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafcadio_Hearn Lafcadio Hearn]], a writer famous for translating stories of {{Youkai}} into English. What's more, he went on to marry into a Japanese family and take the name Koizumi ''Yakumo''.
262* MinimalistCast: Save for ''Dateless Bar "Old Adam"'', Maribel and Renko are the only characters who appear in the Sealing Club stories.
263* MixAndMatchCritters: Satellite TORIFUNE is inhabited by all sorts of chimeras.
264* MythicalMotifs: ''Neo-traditionalism of Japan'' has grapes, a bamboo shoot, and a peach on the cover, referencing Izanagi's escape from Yomi, during which he threw down his hairdress and comb, which transformed into grapes and bamboo shoots respectively to throw off his pursuers, and the peaches he used to fend them off.
265* NextSundayAD: The Sealing Club's stories take place in the Near Future. [[AmbiguousTimePeriod How "Near" however is the question though.]]
266* NoPaperFuture: Downplayed in that books still do exist, but ''Dr. Latency's Freak Report'' reveals that the vast majority of information is disseminated through cyberspace, so there's no such thing as "e-books", as the term "book" has returned to referring only to bound writings made of paper.
267* NothingIsScarier: In universe example. The future where Maribel and Renko lives in fears the unknown to an extensive degree. When Maribel caught an unknown virus that was no more dangerous than the common cold, she was kept in quarantine for a very long time despite it passing very quickly. She was diagnosed with delirium seemingly just to keep her there longer.
268* OriginsEpisode: The series is heavily implied to be one for [[Characters/TouhouPerfectCherryBlossom Yukari Yakumo]].
269* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: The Sealing Club are "[[{{Necromancy}} necromancers]]" how exactly? They also don't seem to do a lot of sealing. ''Urban Legend in Limbo'' reveals that it's an occult club. Though, Sumireko, the original club president, mainly used it as an excuse to [[LeaveMeAlone drive everyone away from it]], with the logic that absolutely no one would want to join a club named "The Secret Sealing Club".
270* QuantumMechanicsCanDoAnything: Maribel and Renko theorize in ''Dr. Latency's Freak Report'' that Gensokyo and other places like it are separated from the Outside World by quantum membranes[[note]]The brane world hypothesis of string theory, which theorizes that the four dimensional universe we can observe comprises one brane, and the higher dimensions comprise others.[[/note]], and that beings like youkai can occasionally access the Outside World by slipping through quantum gaps in a phantom state, such as the youkai cat Maribel encountered at a shrine once.
271* RecurringRiff: In ''Trojan Green Asteroid'', "Ame-no-Torifune Shrine" and "The Barrier of Ame-no-torifune Shrine" share a driving note sequence.
272* SchrodingersButterfly: The original story is referenced in ''Changeability of Strange Dream''.
273* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Maribel has an encounter with what's implied to be Mokou at the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, and her immediate reaction is... Well...
274-->''I ran for dear life, even though I was in a dream. I didn't know what it was, but the laughter that I heard sounded like something that obviously wasn't human. My instincts said "Run for it!"''
275* ScienceFantasy: While the rest of the ''Touhou'' series is fantasy with some science in the background, the Sealing Club stories tend to lean more towards science, with Maribel and Renko theorizing scientific causes for supernatural phenomena, but still considering them supernatural rather than DoingInTheWizard.
276* SeekerArchetype: The Sealing Club, who seek to solve all the mysteries of Gensokyo and the other worlds.
277* ShownTheirWork: Maribel and Renko theorize that Izanagi and Izanami created Japan about 25 million years ago. Geologically, what would later become Japan did indeed start to separate from the rest of the Asian continent 25 million years ago, though it didn't achieve something resembling its modern configuration until around 20,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum.
278* StandAloneEpisode: Most of the volumes can be understood independently from one another, save for the separate duos of ''Trojan Green Asteroid'' and ''Neo-traditionalism of Japan'', and ''Dr. Latency's Freak Report'' and ''Dateless Bar "Old Adam"'', which are directly connected.
279* {{Terraform}}: ''Trojan Green Asteroid'' takes place on a lost space station that was used to test plans to terraform... ''[[GaiasLament Earth]]''. Terraforming Mars or Venus is described as "the stuff of science fiction".
280* ThemeNaming: The first four Sealing Club [=CDs=] are named after books by Lafcadio Hearn:
281** ''Ghostly Japan'' —> ''Ghostly Field Club'' (ZUN wanted the same feel as the source material);
282** ''Exotics and Retrospectives'' —> ''Retrospective 53 minutes'' (egregious number of references to paintings, Mount Fuji, and "the beauty of memory");
283** ''Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things'' —> ''Changeability of Strange Dream'' (youkai horror stories; "kaidan"/"kwaidan" itself literally means "ghost stories" or "weird tales")
284** ''The Romance of the Milky Way'' —> ''Magical Astronomy'' (a "mirror maiden" travels to the moon and has some fun; the former is the last book by Lafcadio, while the latter is the last [=CD=] for almost six years).
285* TimeTravel: In ''Changeability of Strange Dream'' Maribel is transported to the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. In ''[[UniverseCompendium Perfect Memento in Strict Sense]]'' it's revealed that a message she left behind was discovered by Gensokyo natives... hundreds of years ago.
286* TitleDrop:
287** During the Necrofantasia segment of ''Magical Astronomy'', Renko describes immortality as a state of being "neither alive nor dead, in the living world and the netherworld at the same time, a ''Necrofantasia''".
288** During the Izanagi Object segment of ''Neo-traditionalism of Japan''[[note]]Itself a TitleDrop.[[/note]] when Maribel shows Renko the odd manmade stone she found deep underground, she says "This is what I found at the Izanagi Plate. It's an ''Izanagi Object''.".
289* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Renko has short hair, tends to wear shirt-hat-tie combos, and is the "scientist" of the pair. Maribel has [[LongHairIsFeminine long hair]], tends to wear [[GracefulLadiesLikePurple purple]] dresses and bonnets, and is the "magician".
290* TheUnderworld: In ''Neo-traditionalism of Japan'' Maribel visits Yomi, the Shinto underworld.
291* UnholyGround: In the ''Legend of Aokigahara'' segment of ''Retrospective 53 minutes'' it's implied that in order to assuage fears of angering the gods by tunneling underneath Mt. Fuji, the Tokaido was made to run directly under [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aokigahara Aokigahara]] instead, which makes Maribel feel uncomfortable due to feeling the souls of those who died there.
292* UrbanFantasy: Most of the story takes place outside Gensokyo, in [[TwentyMinutesInTheFuture near-future]] Japan.
293* WalkingTheEarth: ''Neo-traditionalism of Japan'' has the Sealing Club travel across Japan after Maribel gets freed from the sanatorium.
294* WateringDown: In Maribel's and Renko's time there are two types of alcohol, new-style and old-style. Old-style is regular old alcohol, while new-style (which is drunk by the majority of people) contains special enzymes that prevents the drinker from getting too drunk from it, preventing addiction as well as not being as damaging to the body.
295* WeWillHaveEuthanasiaInTheFuture: ''Dateless Bar "Old Adam"'' features Renko and Merry discussing the "lifespan regulations" Japan is introducing in order to reduce the cost of caring for elderly citizens.
296* WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture: ''Neo-traditionalism of Japan'' reveals that in the Sealing Club's world most diseases are treatable, hereditary incurable conditions are treated merely as idiosyncrasies, and incurable diseases are more or less "nonexistent." However, due to their society's fear of the unknown, Maribel was held in a sanatorium for an unknown amount of time following the events of ''Trojan Green Asteroid'', all because due to her chimera injury she caught an illness no worse than a common cold.
297* WorkInfoTitle: ''Retrospective 53 minutes'' has its length in its title.

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