Memes / Touhou Project

aka: Touhou

This page wants you to take it easy.

For a simple danmaku game, Touhou Project has spawned more memes than any others of its kind. Sometimes, the memes even become canon. Plus, these memes are spreading the bullets.

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Please add entries in the following format:

• The meme. [[labelnote:Explanation]]The explanation behind the meme.[[/labelnote]] ^ExplanationLike this.

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• Marisa Stole The Precious Thing. ^ExplanationIOSYS's remix of Alice's leitmotif, "Doll Judgement ~ The Girl Who Played with People's Shapes". "Precious things" has since been adopted as the official euphemism for anything that Marisa steals, from books to Special Moves to virginity. The phrase first appeared in a doujinshi, where it caused a Poor Communication Kills moment between Patchouli and Alice. Also, many people not familiar with the franchise may tend to think Marisa is the song's protagonist.
  • Alice Forgot the Precious Lyrics!
• Overdrive! ^ExplanationIOSYS's remix of Reisen's leitmotif, Lunatic Eyes ~ Invisible Full Moon. It helped contribute to Reisen's Fan Nickname (see below) and also contains "Yagokoro", a bizarre depiction of Eirin based off of a bad ASCII drawing. English speakers tend to call this song "Overdrive", even though it's really called "It Stops at the Affected Area and Dissolves Immediately ~ Lunatic Udongein".
  • Eehh, really!? EASY MODO??? How lame! It's unforgivable to play EASY MODO unless you're an elementary school kid, right? Kyahahahaha!^ExplanationNot the originator of the meme, but made it popular.
  • You cannot comprehend the true nature of Reisen's Lunatic Eyes! ^ExplanationA remix of the remix by IOSYS, it is even more incomprehensible and horrifying. The phrase itself refers to Giygas from EarthBound.
• The McRoll. ^ExplanationA bizarre remix of "U.N. Owen Was Her?" starring Ronald McDonald, yet somehow more memetically popular.
  • It should be noted that calling Flandre's theme the McRoll generally aggravates any nearby fans.
  • "Death Waltz" by John Stump ^ExplanationActually a remix by COOL&CREATE, but its MIDI somehow made it across the seas and into the hands of a Westerner, who then decided to call it "the impossible song". Synthesia, the virtual piano program that relies on MIDI to play songs and what is linked here, was just starting to become famous when the song was posted, but random videos of impossible piano pieces (affectionately called "tutorials") were populating all across YouTube even a year or two before this. John Stump is an equally (in)famous person known to create impossible songs similar in style to the one linked here, some even called "sheet music art", but this song was incorrectly labeled by fans of his works as one of his compositions. Note that John Stump has absolutely no connection to Touhou at all.
  • Versions exist for several other Touhou themes as well. Here is one of "Deaf To All But The Song".
  • MAY FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEST
• "Yukkuri shiteitte ne!" ^Explanation"Take it easy!" (Literally, "Do it slowly.") This is the Catchphrase of the Yukkuris, disembodied heads in the likeness of Touhou characters, the original image of which is shown at the top of this page. (However, some types of Yukkuri get different catch phrases, such as Chen's "I get it!" and Remilia's "Uu! Uu!") Probably the largest Touhou meme of all, with gargantuan amounts of fanon even by the impressive standards of Touhou.
  • The meme is so popular it has its own Wiki and a series of comics. It's also one of the most divisive memes; many fans absolutely hate yukkuris.
  • A word to the wise: yukkuri "fandom" often has very nasty things in it. The aforementioned hatred of yukkuris results in entire manga series dedicated to making the poor things' lives as miserable as possible, often to the point of humans torturing them for giggles. Serious Bile Fascination or a tolerance for Gorn is highly recommended, even necessary, before looking too closely into yukkuri.
    • It’s so unpleasant that people that hate PETA decided to set up an analogue of the organisation (albeit competent) in the verse. The constant abuse towards yukkuri and the hatred of yukkuri incited has backfired on some people, making them see yukkuri as cute even when they have attitude issues and the nasty traits they are attributed to.
  • There's the fact that Yukkuris were attributed with some rather unpleasant traits by fans, though there are some renditions that are cute and likable.
  • "Yukkuris are now canon!" ^ExplanationAfter Sekibanki, who can detach her head and create duplicate heads, got introduced, people immediately declared yukkuris an Ascended Meme.
• Yukarin is 17~ ^ExplanationThis was a result of Kikuko Inoue incorporating her Catchphrase into the On the Next preview of Musou Kakyou: A Summer Day's Dream, creating Wild Mass Guessing that she would be playing Yukari.
  • It should be noted that there were jokes about Yukari hiding her true age before this, but the above meme standardized them.
  • "BBA" ^ExplanationShort for "Babaa", which is "Grandma", this is Yukari's Fan Nickname. It seems Kanako has inherited the nickname from her, and it tends to be used against any older-looking Touhou character.
    • Old Maids Alliance ^ExplanationA fanmade Cast Herd of Yukari, Yuyuko, Eirin, Kanako, and Byakuren, as the oldest-looking of all Touhou characters.
  • This is preposterous, of course. Yukari's age is actually <gap> ^ExplanationAnother attempt by Yukari to obfuscate her age, hiding it in one of her gaps.
• Cirno is known as ⑨ (pronounced "Nineball") after this◊ image in the manual for Phantasmagoria of Flower View, indicating Cirno as ⑨: Baka.
  • The infamous Icicle Fall -Easy-. ^ExplanationOne of Cirno's spellcards in The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, possessing a big honking blind spot directly in front of her.
    • However, many fans overlook that on Normal or higher, Icicle Fall doesn't have that blind spot. Trying to abuse it in this case results in getting point-blanked by the bullets that she fires straight ahead.
    • There are a few videos demonstrating similar (if less reliable or blaringly obvious) blind spots in other spell cards. No matter who is being mocked, these videos are always titled "Ice Sign: "Icicle Fall" -Easy-" and use Cirno's theme. Some targets include Kaguya and Mystia.
    • Even in Impossible Spell Card, Cirno's second spell card is this.
    • It's even spread beyond Touhou. ^ExplanationThe first linked video is showing an Icicle Fall moment of is Bullet Heaven. The second game is Gradius III.
  • Cirno's Perfect Math Class. ^ExplanationAn arrange of Cirno's theme in which Cirno tries to learn mathematics (poorly).
    • Ne youkaiyskiy, I ne lunariskiy, A ya rossiyskiy novyy pirat. I ne fairy'skiy, I ne oniskiy, A ya rossiyskiy novyy pirat.^{Explanation (NSFW)}Someone posted a video of a Russian porn star and minor internet celebrity filking a techno version of the Pirates of the Caribbean theme while swinging his penis to the music, claiming it was Cirno's Perfect Math Class. It gained enough views and enough confused and/or disgusted Touhou fans to become a minor joke for a while.
    • There are no buses in Gensokyo. ^ExplanationOne of Cirno's failed attempts at answering a math question in the video.
    • Probably not officially a meme, but there is a series of videos with two guys getting an increasingly large group of people to dance with them to Cirno's Perfect Math Class.
    • Similarly, there's Chirumiru, a song about Cirno advertising a milk, and this spawned various edits.
  • "I'm the strongest!" ^ExplanationSaid by Cirno in her route in Phantasmagoria of Flower View, it has been adopted as her Catchphrase and a summary of her woefully inaccurate assessment of her strength. While she is definitely the strongest fairy (and even that is being threatened by Clownpiece (Cirno is introduced as a Stage 2 Boss, Clownpiece is introduced as a Stage 5 Boss and she is a That One Boss in a game full of them)), that isn't saying all that much.
    • "I'm a genius!" ^ExplanationIn retaliation to those calling Cirno stupid, fans have decided that Cirno is, in fact, a genius. Whether it is used mockingly or genuinely depends on the work, though again, she genuinely is surprisingly intelligent for a fairy.
  • September the 9th, 2009 (the 9th of the 9th of 2009) was celebrated as Cirno Day by her fans, also known as the strongest day ever. While September 9 in subsequent years hasn't been quite as strong, the date still retains its association with her.
  • Atai Cirno. ^ExplanationCirno's use of "atai", a contracted slang form of the Japanese Pronoun "atashi", is normally meant to evoke a thuggish, uneducated, badass tough-girl image. Unfortunately, Cirno is short, weak, and childlike, so it comes off as laughable over-compensation, serving only to punctuate her lack of self-awareness. In English translations, this is occasionally rendered as "eye", as in "Eye'm the strongest!" (as a type of Funetik Aksent to indicate she's a baka), but is well on its way to being a Discredited Meme.
    • There are other characters that use Atai, but Cirno is the most (in)famous, because the mental image it evokes is that of a belligerent child trying to act bigger than she is, which is exactly what she is.
  • "I'll cryo-freeze you together with some English beef!" ^ExplanationOne of Cirno's many, many failed attempts at a Badass Boast, this one the most popular due to being the first.
  • Team ⑨ ^ExplanationAn entirely fan-made Cast Herd, led by Cirno (hence the name) and consisting of herself, Mystia, Wriggle, and Rumia, with occasionally also Daiyousei and Chen. They are depicted as basically a group of children, impetuous but determined, playing with each other and pranking everyone else.
  • "CIRNO SMASH PUNY [X] WITH GLACIER-MALLET." ^ExplanationFrom Touhou Nekokayou, denotes Cirno smashing someone with a glacier-mallet. The phrase itself comes from the Scarlet Weather Rhapsody wiki, referencing 12.3 where Cirno has such a move.
  • MMD Cup 9 included "⑨" as one of the themes for the competition, prompting a larger number of Touhou MikuMikuDance videos than usual (with and without Cirno).
  • And then Cirno got a rival. However...
    • And then a proper one, since the safe spot is literally right in front of the boss.
  • "Tan Cirno" ^ExplanationTouhou 16: Hidden Star in Four Seasons introduces a tanned Cirno who apparently represents summer (and wears a sunflower). Also Alolan Cirno in the style of the "different evolutions" in Pokémon Sun and Moon. Alternatively, she’s referred to as Cirno-tan.
    • And then there’s Alolan Ninetales, whose typing (Ice/Fairy) and name (NINE-tales) have led to Cirno jokes.
    • Bea = Tanned Youmu ^ExplanationSword and Shield's Fighting-type gym leader Bea looks very much like a tanned Youmu, which has resulted in fanart with one of them dressing as the other, the two of them switching clothes, or the two of them meeting. Less commonly, the Ghost-type gym leader Allister, who was revealed alongside Bea, has been linked to Youmu's ghost half, whether meeting it or taking its place.
    • Galarian Youmu?
    • Some compare Allister to Satori/Kokoro.
• Utsuho has been dubbed ⑥ (pronounced "Sixball") after the revelation in Hisoutensoku that she might be even dumber than Cirno. (Apparently all of her brainpower is devoted to nuclear physics, with no room for irrelevant crap like THE COMMON SENSE TO LOOK UP.)
  • ☢ CAUTION ☢ CAUTION ☢. ^ExplanationUtsuho's warning screen and sirens that accompany each of her spell cards in Subterranean Animism. Included in many drawings depicting Utsuho and musical arranges of her theme.
  • Okuu's Nuclear Fusion Dojo ^ExplanationUtsuho runs an exercise program.
    • Okuu's Nuclear Fusion Dojo ^ExplanationA troll sub of the above that has managed to become a meme of its own.
    • Okuu's Nuclear Schoolbag Dojo ^ExplanationA crossbreeding with a Nico Nico Douga meme revolving around a schoolbag commercial.
  • ? MISSION!! ? MISSION!! ? ^ExplanationCrossbreeding with a meme revolving around a 59-year-old man (called "Kami-59") banging a drum. The result is simply bizarre.
  • Okuu's third leg is something of a meme, constantly being depicted as an Arm Cannon that would make Samus jealous. Became official with Hisoutensoku.
    • SHE HAS LIKE A PENIS!
• Undead Zombie Miko Reimu. ^ExplanationReimu's Mountain of Faith portrait depicts her with incredibly pale skin, leading to the "explanation" that she is actually a zombie.
  • I am NOT an undead zombie, so SHUT THE HELL UP already!
    • But Reimu is an undead zombie, so YEAH!
  • ZUN ART IS BEST ART. ^ExplanationEven his most die-hard fans admit that ZUN can't really draw, and jokes about it are endless. However, many fans have noticed the Art Evolution in later games, with Unconnected Marketeers being met with high praise. That said, while he is improving, his art isn't immune to anatomy errors and jankiness.
• Myon~ ^Explanation Fan Nickname for either Youmu's Phantom half or Youmu herself.
• Cho-Marisa and MANnosuke. ^ExplanationTestosterone Poisoning versions of Marisa and Rinnosuke, respectively. MANnosuke is practically the Fan Nickname for Rinnosuke in the English fandom, for obvious reasons.
  • WHO NEEDS FANSERVICE WHEN YOU CAN HAVE MANSERVICE!
    • Suck my... duck? ^ExplanationThe above used to be the source of the page image for Fan Disservice. It had to be seen to be believed.
• ZA WARUDO! ^ExplanationSakuya has timehax abilities, uses knives, and while she isn't a vampire herself, she is very closely associated with two. The comparisons with Dio Brando were inevitable, helped along by ZUN's many other Jojo's references.
  • Exemplified by this video.
  • Naturally, Sakuya Brando has been made in M.U.G.E.N.
  • 1 Minute Melee even made the two of them fight it out. With DOUBLE THE ZA WARUDO!
• Night Of Nights, an absurdly fast arrange of Flowering Night.
• Sakuya's Pads ^ExplanationDue to the Art Shift between The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil and Immaterial and Missing Power, it became a pervasive fan theory/joke that Sakuya pads her bra. Later on, however, it became a Discredited Meme due in part to being canonically false — Sakuya really does have big boobs - but it continues to be popular among new and casual fans, and remains accepted in long-running works such as Life of Maid where it's essentially grandfathered in.
  • iPad. ^ExplanationFans were making parodies of the famous iPod advertisements with Sakuya, replacing iPod with iPad, for years before anyone even knew the iPad existed.
  • You can't say that Sakuya has pads! Otherwi-knifed- ^ExplanationUsed in a similar fashion to the Candle Jack meme, Sakuya not liking people making that insinua-
  • Meiling: Mine are real! Mine are—-knifed- ^ExplanationAn increasingly common variation is for Meiling to brag about her own (large) breasts, with predictable results.
  • Sakuya playing the original Super Mario Bros.; adhering to this meme, the results should be predictable.
• I GOT CAVED BY EX-KEINE! ^Explanation"Caved" refers to the verb "horu" (dig/excavate), which can be interpreted as "violate anally" in Japanese. To say "I GOT CAVED BY EX-KEINE!" is roughly equal to saying "I GOT ASS-RAPED BY EX-KEINE!" (specifically, with her horns).
  • The sukusuku hakutaku, a disgustingly cute version of Keine's hakutaku form. Some artists have proceeded to make versions based on other characters.
• Sanae is a good girl.◊ ^ExplanationFrom a Happy Flame Time doujin, Cold Wind but Warm Winter, in which she gets drunk and demands that Kanako call her a good girl and pat her head. Used for basically any situation, genuinely when she's doing something good and ironically when she's doing something bad.
  • Sanae the sadist. ^ExplanationDue to a few lines from the Undefined Fantastic Object demo after Sanae's defeat of Kogasa, fans came to the conclusion that Sanae is developing a sadistic streak.
    • At the end of Sanae B's extra, Sanae invites Nue to the Moriya Shrine. This has somehow evolved into this instead...
  • "You can't let yourself be held back by common sense!" ^ExplanationSanae has become more belligerent, unstable, unreliable, and generally like a resident of Gensokyo with each appearance, leading to the conclusion that simply moving to Gensokyo is breaking her grip on reality, leading to this line, which Sanae says in Subterranean Animism.
    • Gensokyo: The land where common sense is a weakness. ^ExplanationSanae has become stronger as she loses her sanity, going from Stage 5 Boss to Ex-Mid-Boss to playable character, leading to this conclusion.
    • Gensokyo not having common sense is actually canon, in a way.
  • Sanae is a different kind of "good girl".◊ ^ExplanationHer appearances in numerous games and being playable in TH12, TH12.3, and TH13 have caused fans to draw parallels to how Aya became playable in many of the previous games by doing sexual favors for ZUN. (See "Aya is ZUN's girlfriend" below.) Futhermore, since she's often portrayed as a ditzy teenage girl who's been exposed to all the ills of the modern-day world, her image amongst Japanese fans has also shifted from a pure, goody-two-shoes girl to that of an indiscriminate nymphomaniac. This has caused many doujin artists to make her the subject of more H-doujins and hentai pictures than most other Touhou characters.
    • "What are Sanae's ten desires?"^ExplanationTypical baited response to threads with this OP: 1.Dicks 2.Dicks 3.Dicks 4.Dicks 5.Dicks 6.Dicks 7.Dicks 8.Dicks 9.Dicks 10.Dicks
• Kanako is a Guncannon. ^ExplanationDue to the resemblance when Kanako uses her onbashira in combat.
  • A Vicious Guncannon.
• *ANGRY DOG NOISES*^ExplanationAn intentionally misquoted Unsound Effect that came from a scene from the doujinshi manga Myourenji Enikki Matome where Kyouko Kasodani actually said something like "Do not call me cute!!!" (かわいくない!!!/kawaikunai!!!). Generally used as a form of reaction image.
• Fan art of Nitori drawn as a missile is common, due to her Boss Subtitle being the "Super Youkai Warhead". Cemented by Subterranean Animism, as her connection to Marisa gives the latter (unguided) missiles, the only weapon in the game that is even vaguely technological.
  • A cucumber-shaped missile?
• Kaguya is a NEET. ^ExplanationKaguya spends almost all her time in Eientei, leading to this. Fan-artists often depict her engaging in typical hikikomori activities like wearing a track suit, posting on Image Boards, and playing console games and MMORPGs. Kaguya is therefore the Touhou character most likely to be seen in fanart using a computer, even though canonically Gensokyo doesn't have mainline electricity or any way to reach the internet. Kaguya canonically strives to be productive despite her sheltered life, the very opposite of a NEET.
  • She discovered the internet, and thus consequently probably discovered us.◊ Not even moon princesses are immune!
  • Patchouli is a NEET. ^ExplanationPatchouli is even more of a hikikomori than Kaguya, spending at least a century in her library, though fan portrayals of her this way are less common. Rather famously, the two of them got along really well when they met in Life of Maid.
• Thanks to the Space Probe Kaguya, she's also been forced to go back to the Moon.
  • From the way ZUN talked about the Apollo Project concealing a war between the Humans and the Lunarians, Neil Armstrong has become a totally awesome dude who could take on Yorihime the Moonbitch — and WIN.
  • Fan-artists are now expecting to have fun now that Kaguya has crashed into the moon. As seen here.
  • With the latest announcement that NASA has sent a missile into the side of the moon, it seems like the Lunar War is starting up again. Yorihime must be annoyed.
    • BRING IT ON MOONBITCH!!!
• "TASUKETE EIRIN!" ^ExplanationA line from, Help me, ERINNNNNN!!, a vocal remix of Kaguya's theme, Flight of the Bamboo Cutter ~ Lunatic Princess, and one of the more famous ear worms. Helped contribute to Kaguya's seeming dependance on Eirin, with her usually shouting this for her.
  • _, ,_　∩
    (　゜∀゜)彡　えーりん!えーりん!
    　　 ⊂彡
• Reisen is just a useless little bunny, only good for her sex appeal. ^ExplanationFrom the doujin "Drunkards in Eientei" by Omchicken, this is used both to mock Reisen and as acknowledgement of the enormous amounts of Perverse Sexual Lust towards her. This may also be a factor in her tendency to end up in H-doujins.
  • On Nico Nico Douga, she's also known as "newbie bait", i.e. ZUN's clever plan to attract new fans with useless little bunnies. That or doujin artists.
  • "Suppository", due to the shape of her bullets.
• Are You Happy? ToHo KInema kan! Make You Happy?
• Yuugi's sake NOT EVEN DROP! ^ExplanationFrom a copypasta arguing that Touhou characters' power levels can't be judged from their relative positions in the games.
  • Fans overlook this when talking about Letty and Yuyuko in her Ten Desires Stage One appearance, resulting in their respective memes.
  • People later started referencing this come the release of Gouyoku Ibun, where, as the Stage 3 Boss of the game, Yuugi does end up spilling her sake.
• BRO FIST. Respond or you're not a bro. ^ExplanationThe Fan Nickname for Unzan's attempts to actually punch the player. Interestingly, Brofist was already a popular meme on Imageboards (involving spamming threads with brofists), making this a case of Hilarious in Hindsight.
  • Ichirin Kujo ^ExplanationDue to Unzan supporting her like a Stand, Ichirin was dubbed this, to match with Sakuya Brando (see above).
  • Ichirin is just Unzan's hitbox. ^ExplanationA combination meme that references both Unzan's status as one of the only MANLY characters in Touhou, as well as Ichirin being massively overshadowed in popularity by him. ZUN stating that in retrospect it's actually kind of true only added more fuel.
• Ran is the amazing Suppa Tenko! ^ExplanationDepictions of Ran as an exhibitionist are absurdly common.
  • Do you like SUPPATENKO? O.K! Let's enjoy together SUPPATENKO! (NSFW)
  • CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN! ^ExplanationFrom Ran and Chen's skit in the Touhou M-1 Grand Prix, used whenever Chen does something cute. On its way to becoming a Discredited Meme.
    • *massive nosebleed* ^ExplanationRan is constantly depicted to leak blood like a hose from Chen's mere presence, like this. Often extended to Sakuya as well.
    • Related to the above two: Tendencies of her liking Chen far more than she should and cases of her being punished for it, either from Yukari or Chen herself.
    • HANYAAAAAAAAAAA~N!!!
• JAAAAOOOOOOOOOO! ^ExplanationMeiling's yells this in Patchouli and Meiling's skit in the Touhou M-1 Grand Prix. Almost universally adopted as Meiling's battle cry.
  • "Kick, punch, it's all in the mind!"
• Everyone is gay in Gensokyo. ^ExplanationThe almost complete lack of male characters has led to every character being depicted as homosexual by default. The gender inverse of this rule states that even the few named guys are gay since they show no interest throughout the series.
  • May be debunked on Hopeless Masquerade’s release, as shots of its Human Village stage have a sizable male population. It should also be noted that ZUN mentioned in interviews before that Gensokyo's population is not entirely made up of women, male characters just don't have much importance since the female characters are typically the only ones who do anything.
• Spot an inconsistency? Need an explanation? Pick one:
  • Magic. ^ExplanationGensokyo is filled with magic, and to some extent literally exists contrary to reason, and is commonly used as a Hand Wave.
  • Eirin's shady new drug. ^ExplanationEirin is a phenomenal genius who explicitly has the ability to make a potion or drug for anything, and is often twisted into a sadistic Mad Scientist/Evil Genius by the more extreme side of fandom.
  • Yukari is fooling around again. ^ExplanationYukari's power is limited only by her sloth, and the potential of the presence of an easily bored, not easily amused quasi-god has not been overlooked by the fans.
  • It's a Moriya Shrine conspiracy. ^ExplanationThe Moriya trio have been more active and ambitious than anyone else, directly and indirectly responsible for the plots of five games, and it is speculated that they have many more planned.
  • "Templates like that are forbidden." ^ExplanationThe entire joke was spawned after this doujin page, with Reimu explaining to Marisa the potential culprits/causes and Marisa replying with this line. The doujin predates Mountain of Faith, but following that game's debut, the "Moriya Shrine conspiracy" line was Photoshopped in a few years later. This meme is very popular on Danbooru.
    • Said Shrine conspiracy started due to fans’ belief that it was Kanako that wanted to take over the Hakurei Shrine (not true; just Sanae being overzealous), though two of the shrine's faith gathering plans did go on to result in incidents (SA and 12.3).
• Reimu is a bitch. ^ExplanationReimu's Designated Hero status is often Flanderized to the point of being a psychotic sadist. Her dialogue choices in some games don't help one bit, especially in Undefined Fantastic Object — though she is very kind to Nue at the end of their fight.
  • This is partly due to Reimu rarely being seen in the games during non-incident times, when she's nicer, and partly because many of her kinder moments in-game are hidden behind the Good Endings, which ZUN doesn't let anyone spoil. This is highlighted in the Three Fairies manga, in which she is shown gently telling a fairy to take shelter from a storm. Bitchy Reimu would have shot the fairy on sight.
• ξ・∀・) ^ExplanationThis represents Merupo, a Fan Nickname for Merlin Prismriver and the Game-Breaking Bug she became known for, able to kill the player after being defeated. It originates from "Nurupo", a way of abbreviating "Null Pointer Exception."
  • It also caused Merlin to be shown as the kooky one of the sisters.
• Reimu's armpits. ^ExplanationFandom constantly joke that armpits are their only known form of arousal, inspired by how nearly every fan-depiction of Reimu has her wearing clothes that expose her armpits. (Her official character portraits could be interpreted either way.) Wily Beast and Weakest Creature confirmed that this was the case.
  • This has extended to Sanae with a helping of Side Boob, as she's shown as curvier than Reimu.
• Donations please! ^ExplanationReimu doesn't get many donations, so fandom depicts her as constantly harassing everyone for them.
• Fantasy Heaven. When it starts, You Are Already Dead ^ExplanationReimu's One-Hit Kill spellcard in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody. The name, attack, and music reference Fist of the North Star.
• \SYAMEIMARU/\SYAMEIMARU/\SYAMEIMARU/ ^ExplanationPeople saying character Aya Shameimaru's last name.
  • Ayayayaya~! ^ExplanationAya says this to either heroine upon spotting them in their Mountain of Faith routes, noting her surprise at seeing them, so it has become her catchphrase for surprise and exasperation. It helps that "aya" 'is' actually an expression of surprise (similar to "wow"/"whoa") in archaic Japanese.
  • Aya is ZUN's girlfriend. ^ExplanationAya has a starring role in multiple games, either as a playable character, a Boss, or a minor character, leading to jokes that Aya is giving ZUN sexual favors as bribes. Now largely viewed as a Discredited Meme since more characters have taken precedence over Aya, as well as being considered disrespectful towards ZUN now that he's married and has a family. Though some now joke that ZUN's wife is actually Aya, on account of her having short black hair (as if that were an uncommon trait among Japanese women).
• Videos of the girls exercising. Or not. ^ExplanationNico Nico Douga meme that parodies the Fight! Ippatsu Juuden-chan ending sequence, and many versions exist using characters from other series besides Touhou.
• Byakuren died for your sins. ^ExplanationThough technically more resembling the Buddha, Byakuren's habit of saving youkai and advocating peace between them and humans has led to her being closely compared to Jesus Christ, leading to Fan Nicknames such as Youkai Jesus and Youchrist. It also helps that in the pre-final battle dialogue, she comes off more heroic than the heroine!
  • But stealing is still bad, Byakuren. ^ExplanationHer bullet patterns are clearly inspired by other characters... and outright stealing Shinki's attack.
  • O, the world of dharma is filled with light. Or Namusan~!
  • Suigintouhou. ^ExplanationThe strong similarities between the dresses of Byakuren and Rozen Maiden's Suigintou were fairly quickly noted.
    • Kagiyama Hina-Ichigo. ^ExplanationFanart depicting Kagiyama Hina and Hina-Ichigo either together or cosplaying as each other due to the “Hina” part of their names.
  • Biker◊ Byakuren◊ from Urban Legend in Limbo is spreading at a rapid rate.◊
  • With the existence of both Byakuren and Toyosatomimi no Miko in the same setting, many fans have taken to depicting them in a war of Buddhism vs. Taoism, to the point there's an entire pool for it on Danbooru.
• CAPTAIN MINAMITSU MOTHERFUCKING MURASA! ^ExplanationThe second Ensemble Dark Horse of Undefined Fantastic Object, Minamitsu has been declared as one of the few MANLY characters of Touhou. Even her Leitmotif is named after her! Made popular by a western artist that protrayed her as a confident macho girl. The Giant Anchors are a part of it as well.
• SO MOE I'M GONNA DIE! ^ExplanationA stock reaction phrase in response to impossibly cute situations fanworks stick the characters in. Mainly used on Pixiv and by extension Danbooru so far, but doujin works seem to be spreading it around now. Originated from this Tsukihime doujinshi by Hiroyuki (the same author who gave us "A cat is fine too").
• The girls have seriously begun Idol Dancing/Singing. Granted, they've been doing it for a while now.
• Yuyuko eating Mystia, in the Ghost Team route in Imperishable Night, solidified Yuyuko's portrayal as a Big Eater surpassed only by a singularity.
  • "Hang on, Youmu, I got a bone stuck in my throat."
  • Which was soon mutated into Yuyuko "eating" Mystia.
  • This has since evolved into Yuyuko eating nearly ANYTHING!
  • With the introduction of the chicken-like Kutaka Niwatari, she's become a target for Yuyuko's dinner too.
• Laser is not difficult◊: ^ExplanationThis is how Marisa uses Master Spark, by Word of God.
  1. Concentrate your mind.
  2. Mutter the spell into the Mini-Hakkero tenderly.
  3. Aim at someone you don't like.
  4. Unleash your annihilation of love!
• Yuuka is youkai moe~ ^ExplanationFrom her bizarre character profile in Kioh Gyoku (it may be a Pun, as Yuuka is a flower youkai and Moe means "to bud"). Yuuka is depicted as Moe, prompting this phrase, about as often as she is depicted as being Ax-Crazy, with further mutation combining the two to create the also popular Cute and Psycho portrayal. Youkai moe can also be applied to any moe picture of the characters.
  • Nobody likes Yuuka. ^ExplanationSome fans have begun to notice that Yuuka's infamous sadism and dangerousness are turning into Informed Attributes (and not for a lack of power — that's been proven), as she is always seen with a genuinely bright, happy smile in all of her appearances, her vaguely murderous jokes aren't meant to be serious, and when Eiki tells her the "good deed that she can do right now," it's to terrorize humans MORE, implying that she hasn't been. This has led to an increasing number of works that depict her as a misunderstood woobie who is secretly desperate for friendship. Sometimes, she even gets it.
  • pls rember that wen u feel scare or frigten
    never forget ttimes wen u feeled happy
    wen day is dark alway rember happy day ^ExplanationA post from a forum that eventually became a motivational poster featuring Yuuka dolling out some heartwarming life advice.
  • Kogasa is the new youkai moe~ ^ExplanationThe first Ensemble Dark Horse of Undefined Fantastic Object, fans latched onto Kogasa due to extreme cuteness and massive Woobie points. Additionally, Kogasa has an umbrella much like Yuuka, hence the meme.
    • Surprise~! :P ^ExplanationKogasa's extremely meta use of her "power to surprise people" ability has resulted in her surprising fans far more than she does other characters, prompting this line and variations (for example "Wild Kogasa used SURPRISE!", or "Well I'm surprised.")
  • Futo after her introduction in TD has been getting called "Hermit Moe" due to her Fish out of Water tendencies and how good spirited she is about many things, even being beaten in the game.
• Sakuya-san! Sakuya-san! Cleaning Stop! Room Cleaning Stop! ^ExplanationActually based off another parody video for a different canon, but seems to have displaced the original. Besides, the song in the video is based on Eirin's theme, not Meiling's.
• Suwako's hat is often associated with the Hypnotoad meme, depicted as an independent entity using Suwako as her puppet. Though lesser examples have the hat responding differently (seeing what Suwako can't) or mirroring Suwako's feelings.
• TOUHOU HIJACK LOL ^ExplanationA common Interrupting Meme. Originally came from 4chan when the images were replaced by Touhou characters.
• "Girls do their best now and are preparing. Please watch warmly until it is ready." ^ExplanationThe standard loading message on Touhou games, it has become a meme frequently quoted by doujinshi and fanfic authors.
  • Which ends up with its highly quotable snowclone "Girls are [x]...", such as "Girls are preparing...", "Girls are explaining...", etc.
• Wriggle Kick! ^ExplanationIn Imperishable Night, the player often moves to the top of the screen to automatically collect all point items currently on-screen. Because Wriggle introduces herself by flying down from the top of the screen, unsuspecting players get a kick in the face from her, leading to this meme. Further mutation associates her with Kamen Rider on occasion, due to Wriggle being an insect, the Riders’ Signature Move being a flying kick, and the insect-themed armor of nearly all Riders up to Kamen Rider Den-O.
• Memes spawned by the Flash comics on walfas.org:
  • "Hooray!" ^ExplanationCirno's unofficial catchphrase (particularly popular with the fanfic community on Touhou-Project.com).
  • Mokou and Kaguya fighting over a toy "twuck".
  • "Sakuya, what's sex?" ^ExplanationFlandre doesn't understand the "sex" (male or female) option and asks Sakuya. Hilarity Ensues.
  • Hax Sign: "Burn Everything" ^ExplanationReimu has a habit of setting everything on fire.
    • Hax Sign: "You Just Plain F*** ing LOSE" ^ExplanationReimu has even more of a habit of utterly crushing everyone. This is actually justified, as her “Fantasy Heaven/Nature” technique, mentioned above, is canonically unbeatable.
    • Holy crap, it's actually possible to beat it.
  • No way! That's impossible!
  • The most exciting time of day has come! ^ExplanationReimu checks her donations for the day.
    • Further evolved into this video, which is itself a parody of a Touhou 4-koma. 4chan's /jp/ has made it tradition to observe this at 2AM.
  • Shut up Ran! - Sorry. - SHUT UP!
  • DEATH BY YUYUKO! ^ExplanationYuyuko is used as an execution method for prisoners.
  • Yuyu Co. (Also Mi Co.)
  • Have no fear, Nitori is here!
  • Oh, that Chen. ^ExplanationAs opposed to the "o_o"-eyed cat, which got mistaken for Chen early on and has stuck around ever since.
  • K O ^ExplanationAs an addition to the Walfas creator, a Boxing Chen Cat was added. It's a "o_o" cat with Chen's hat, boxing gloves, and a boxer's shorts. Putting her on top of another character results in a KO, with the cat knocking the character out.
  • Keyboard Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!!! ^ExplanationCrossover meme with Chen and keyboard cat.
  • Kaguya Table RPG
  • SEND THEM TO THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE ^ExplanationTaken from the song "Disillusion In A Discordant System" by Acrania and known as "The Nemuno Words". So-called because saying, singing, or playing the part of the song with the words will summon Nemuno Sakata, after which Nemuno will begin killing everyone in sight with her cleaver. It's completely out of character for Nemuno, but her appearance and the fact that it's funny makes it work. Popularized by the Walfas Halloween Spooktacular videos on YouTube.
• You're too soft, Youmu! ^ExplanationYuyuko mocks Youmu. Though this has mutated into a belief that Youmu is actually soft to the touch, with "The Softest" as a Fan Nickname.
• In the cross-breeding of memes, somehow the famous Family Mart has opened a branch store in Gensokyo.
• Minoriko's delicious grape wine. ^ExplanationIt's her pee.
• All right, Patchy! Let's do that bedtop sport for indoor types! ^ExplanationA line by Remilia from the Can't Fix the Helmet doujinshi "A Talk in Bed".
  • "Mukyu~" ^ExplanationPatchouli says this after being defeated in Marisa's route in Immaterial and Missing Power. Subsequently adopted as her Catchphrase, or just when someone wants to make her cute.
  • "Bonsoir!" ^ExplanationAnother Catchphrase for Patchy, derived from this surreal fan-vid and subsequently appearing in several doujins.
• Pretty much Japanese only, but: Shinki's ponytail has been depicted as an ahoge. And it sprouts legs.
  • Some other fan materials have it become a lethal weapon/tool.
• Magical☆Sakuya-chan Versus Miracle★Sanae! ^ExplanationSanae's appearance as a playable character in UFO has led to fan art of Sakuya trying to reclaim her role as a playable character, or at least reacting to the fact that she has been apparently replaced. Originated from ANGELTYPE doujin.
• Reisen+Youmu=Reimu slowly made its way to meme status and made the pairing popular.
• How much of a memetic juggernaut is Touhou? When it encountered the smooooch・∀・ tune, it made a Chen's theme remix out of it.
• Remilia Scarlet swells with charisma. ^ExplanationFan-portrayals of Remilia as an Elegant Gothic Lolita, emphasis on the elegant, are highly common, not helped by the fact she can act as such before devolving into a spoiled, petulant brat in canon. Certain lines involving "miserable piles of secrets" are usually not far behind.
  • CHARISMA BREAK!! ^ExplanationInevitably, subversions of the above were created, with Remilia acting composed and aloof, only to collapse into tears (or a variant) soon after. Sometimes also involves her ducking pose from the fighting games.
  • This has in turn resulted in "charisma recoveries", where Remilia regains her composure after such an event, sometimes to the point of coming off as more Charismatic than she was in the first place. An example.
  • Crossovers with Jojos Bizarre Adventure as well, since Dio (also a vampire) is described to be radiating with charisma.
• More crossbreeding with other memes:
  • SCARLET ZONE (Remix featuring Septette for the Dead Princess and U.N. Owen Was Her?)
  • YOUKAI ZONE (Remix featuring Hartmann's Youkai Girl)
  • And then you get AWESOME DRIVING.
  • NEVER let Marisa drive. Ever.
  • Sakuya takes Remilia for a different kind of "ride".
• Komachi has a NICE BOAT. ^ExplanationCrossover meme with School Days, as Komachi is a Shinigami with a boat, and the NICE BOAT in School Days involves, well...
  • Futo has a NICE BOAT. ^ExplanationSome of Futo's spell cards show her jumping on a boat and surfing on it.
• The Soccer Ball is the Most Powerful Thing In Gensokyo. ^ExplanationIn the fan-game Touhou Soccer, in which the cast use their mighty powers to play soccer, this was adopted as the only possible explanation for the ball still being intact after the beatings it receives.
  • Foul! She kicked the ball! ^ExplanationThe omnipresent use of superpowered magical attacks on the poor ball leads to the joke that in Gensokyan soccer, kicking the ball is against the rules. A few characters do it anyways, though they all kick the ball in a superpowered way (Mokou, Aya, Meiling, Wriggle, Ran, MANnosuke...)
  • Twilight Spark ^ExplanationMima's massively destructive attack in Touhou Soccer 2.
• Even in the Touhou fandom, F.O.E.! ^ExplanationRefers to the Mooks known as kedama (fuzzball). Often drawn with an odd expression on their faces, their resemblance to the F.O.E. orbs in Etrian Odyssey (fueled by an IOSYS video depicting them) have been picked up on by parts of the fanbase. This has resulted in occasional appearances of badass Kedama men in Touhou fan materials.
• Between Marisa's dance◊ moves, and other things like Orin's parody of Thriller, it is clear that◊ Michael Jackson is ALIVE in Gensokyo◊.
• Meiling is TOTALLY A DRAGON. ^ExplanationThere is a popular Epileptic Tree that Meiling is a dragon. The origin of this is that Meiling's youkai type is (quite unusually for a Touhou character) never identified, but her surname "Hong" is a type of Chinese dragon.
• SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER!! Disco ain't dead when it lives on in Nagae Iku! ^ExplanationBegan after one of Iku's poses was noted as similar to a certain one in Saturday Night Fever.
• そーなのかー (So- nanoka-) ^ExplanationRumia's Catchphrase, a childish way of saying "Is that so~?".
• Momiji has rabies. ^ExplanationA reference to her spellcard in Double Spoiler.
  • She can't have rabies, she Ate the Chocolate.
  • She might not have Rabies, but she wouldn't hesitate to bite Aya.
• Bad Apple!! ^ExplanationA shadow art video, using a song based on Elly's theme from Lotus Land Story, reached viral status and spread to an unbelievable scale, even by Touhou standards.
  • Good evening, and you are watching the CIRNO NEWS NETWORK. ^ExplanationCNN got their source wrong when they discussed the Bad Apple!! shadow art video, believing another version of the video (made to look like a slideshow animation) to be a "making of" video, prompting jokes about their competency such as this (another, less popular one being that they hired Aya for the segment). Segment can be found here.
• Nue and her Barrage X from a Playstation Star ^ExplanationJoke from a spell card she uses in Double Spoiler
• Talisman "Exorcism of the Newspaper Subscription Solicitors" ^ExplanationA spellcard Reimu uses in Double Spoiler.
  • No News Solicitations! (Thank You)
    • That means you, Aya. Bad girl.
• Rule ⑨ of the internet: If it exists, there is a Touhou version of it. ^ExplanationTouhou fans are notorious of crossing over and/or fusing Touhou with absolutely everything. The list behind that link is nowhere even close to being exhaustive/complete.
  • Kokoro's otherwordly masks. ^ExplanationA relatively new type of crossover depicting Kokoro with masks (based on characters) from other franchises.
• Brohou. ^ExplanationMales cosplaying as Touhou characters.
• Nazrin can do just about anything... since she's Nazrin.^ExplanationFrom one of Ao Usagi's typically impenetrable creations, used jokingly as an explanation for anything Nazrin does. A classic example of a Forced Meme, with even people on the very page that spawned it sick of hearing about it.
  • Because she's a TINY TINY CLEVER COMMANDER ^ExplanationThe name of Nazrin's theme, occasionally used to refer to Nazrin in general.
  • She can find anything with her power, sometimes resulting in some very odd finds.
• OOOOORRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNNNN! ^ExplanationThe result of Rin being a difficult boss.
• Touhou Sweets ~ The Cruel Sisters and the Suffering Maid. It has PAD written all over it. ^ExplanationA Fan Vid by Innocent Key, it is perhaps single-handedly responsible for the depiction of Remilia and Flandre molesting Sakuya.
  • The Perverted Tengu and the Maidens of Tragedy. ^ExplanationAlso by Innocent Key, this Fan Vid either created or exemplifies the depiction of Aya as a pervert obsessed with panty shots.
• The class change videos of Aoshima cross Touhou with Trials of Mana. They are quite famous with fans of the actual game. Then there are the random Touhou videos...
• "Paruparuparuparu..." ^ExplanationParsee is portrayed as being jealous of everything and compelled to say so, which isn't that far from her actual personality. The meme here is that she does so using a mantra of her own name. A common variation is for other characters to get jealous of something or another, and begin muttering "paru paru" as well.
• Pichuu~n ^ExplanationThe onomatopoeia fans have created for getting hit in the hitbox, also used for dying, massive damage, or general Critical Existence Failure.
  • SPOOOOON! ^ExplanationA joke onomatopoeia for the dying sound effect.
  • ZUUUU~N ^ExplanationAnother joke onomatopoeia used for absolutely anything. Easily confused with an identically pronounced, non-punny effect for a heavy, gloomy mood or something landing heavily.
  • Kyuu~! ^ExplanationThe onomatopoeia created for when Flandre makes something or someone explode (as in "She made it go kyuu~!"). Taken from her own description of her powers in her section of Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red.
• Within hours of being announced, Great Fairy Wars was nicknamed Touhou 12.⑨ Freeze The Bullet.
  • Faily Wars. ^ExplanationTypo of the game's final battle music "Fairy Wars" as it appears in the BGM list.
  • Flashlight spark. ^ExplanationMarisa's variation of her iconic Master Spark in the game, adjusted to fit Cirno's Power Level.
  • Fat Cirno. ^ExplanationIn response to the main menu screenshot. The joke goes she's been hanging out with Letty too long. Started by bloggers, who've never seen her appearance in the Touhou Sangetsusei comics. Speaking of Letty...
• Fat Letty. ^ExplanationAs a boss character in Perfect Cherry Blossom, her hitbox is larger than that of the other boss characters. She's the Stage 1 boss, so this is logical. This has turned into some fanart depicting Letty as being rather large herself. Naturally, the alternate fan explanation holds that only part of her is large.
• "Pettan, pettan, tsurupettan / pettan, pettan, tsurupettan / pettan, pettan, mochipettan / pettan, pettan, munepettan~" ^ExplanationSuika's ode to Pettankos everywhere. Originally a Forced Meme, the song appeared in Umineko: When They Cry.
  • Suika's status as the flattest character in the whole cast, only remotely rivaled by Tenshi.
  • A comic (which may not be SFW) with a curvier rendition has caused the paraphrased line "Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of my tits" to be used by western fans as a flippant response from curvier characters. Some fans consider a shapely Suika to be disturbing the balance of things.
• Hataters gonna Hatate.^ExplanationA bad pun off of Hatate's nickname, Hata.
  • Hatate is EMO. ^ExplanationA relatively famous Pixiv artist drew Hatate as a depressed, dressing-in-black yandere who cuts herself. The pictures and fanon personality spread, some even making Hatate as an outright yandere underneath her canon personality.
• Mima will appear in the next game. ^ExplanationMima was a pivotal character in the PC-98 games, but since then has not even been mentioned, disappearing off the face of Gensokyo. Subsequently, this has become the standard response to any speculations about future Touhou installments, with Mima always being in the next game.
  • Her appearance in the second Touhou Soccer game with her Twilight Spark has caused fans to give Mima a Memetic Badass reputation.
  • Sakuya is the new Mima. ^ExplanationAside from her small story route in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, Sakuya has been completely absent, despite being playable for three consecutive mainline games. Although she still exists, when Youmu, of all people, returned to player character status in Ten Desires, while Sakuya remained in obscurity, the comparisons with Mima were inevitable. The real explanation is that she only acts when the SDM is involved or threatened. This meme has phased out now that Sakuya has been playable again in TH14 & TH18.
• "Kahen kilon siika!" ^Explanation"A two kilo whitefish!" A Finnish meme that was assimilated into the Touhou memeplex after a Finnish Touhou fancomic used it. Thus, a common response to images of Chen with a fish is now "Kahen kilon siika!"
  • "Sirkku". ^ExplanationHow Cirno is known in Finland, partly because it's a common Finnish name, partly because Finnish people just can't pronounce "Cirno" properly; C is not a common letter in Finnish, leaving the pronunciation unclear to someone unfamiliar with the name. Sirno? Kirno? Tsirno? Chirno?
• Yoshika Miyako: Cabbie of the Dead ^ExplanationIn her portrait, Yoshika's cap looks like a taxi driver's, and her sprite, with her arms jutting out in front of her and moving up and down slightly, makes it appears as if she has an invisible steering wheel, resulting in jokes like this.
  • Zombie Meiling. ^ExplanationYoshika's hat has a star on it, like Meiling's, and while she isn't Chinese, she is a Chinese Vampire, almost immediately leading to this comparison.
• (CHARACTER) ISN'T A GOOD GIRL AT ALL ^ExplanationVideos of the bosses killing the player after they've already died. Targets of this include Kanako, Utsuho, Ran, Kogasa, and Ichirin.
• Mamizou Tomoe. ^ExplanationJokes quickly spawned involving Mamizou Futatsuiwa and Mami Tomoe.
  • Miko Sakuraba ^ExplanationMore jokes along the same lines, due to Miko wearing headphones and looking a lot like Neku Sakuraba.
• The Touhous ^ExplanationA synonym for Touhou characters amongst fans in general. Prone to spelling variations such as "Touhoues" or "Toe Hoes".
  • MY TOUHOUS! ^ExplanationUsed to mock people who do not like a fanon interpretation and/or those who adhere close to canon — and, conversely, is also used to mock those who do not like ''canon' explanations.
• "My hat is my friend, it helps me relax" ♥ ^ExplanationFrom a series of Fan Vids that give Koishi Komeiji one hell of an Alternative Character Interpretation.
  • This all happened because of a fishing rod.
  • She's generally seen as particularly kooky by the fandom.
  • She also is shown as a Memetic Molester in some works, with her sister as the target.
• Hinaface. ^ExplanationHina's :D grin in Mountain of Faith is incredibly derpy and goofy-looking, even for ZUN's notoriously bad art in that game, and attained some notoriety with fans on both sides of the pond.
• Reimu eats grass/leaves. ^ExplanationSome fan depictions exaggerate Reimu's Perpetual Poverty to the point where she has to eat weeds to survive. In one doujin, she serves grass with rice to Sanae. When the latter gets angry, thinking she's being mocked, Reimu says that she specifically chose the better grass from the yard for her.
• 5th Grade Loli ^ExplanationA joke revolving around the kanji of Satori Komeiji's name, as one of the kanji characters breaks down into radicals that can be read as "5th grade loli". Her clothes resembling a young Japanese schoolgirl's uniform does not help.
  • ZUN Teaches Drawing◊ ^ExplanationSatori greatly resembles a drawing intended to parody ZUN's art style. Some people depict her as nervous about how ugly people think she is.
  • If she does not have a hat, she will die. ^ExplanationNearly every character wears a hat or hair decorations of some kind. It and variations were subsequently adopted as a joking response for any question involving hats or similar.
• ZUN and alcohol. ^ExplanationZUN's love of alcohol is legendary. Pictures of him without some sort of alcohol are almost non-existent, one of which, of him having a great honking beer glass, gained some infamy, and he claimed/admitted to being drunk for some of Imperishable Night's development. Inevitably, Flanderizations asserting that he would accept beer as payment, or drinks enough to challenge Suika, are incredibly widespread.
• Failice. ^ExplanationA Fan Nickname for certain depictions of Alice, which depict her as a Butt-Monkey Unlucky Everydude steamrolled by the Reimu/Marisa pairing, an evil bitch, a yandere, or an overly dependent, emo sad sack ignored for Reimu/Marisa or the other pairings. Her canon personality is more a Foil to Marisa than anything else. Also sometimes used to refer to her playable appearance in Imperishable Night, in which she is such a bad shot type that, barring Good Bad Bugs, the player is generally better off using Marisa than using Marisa + Alice... and Marisa isn't even one of the better characters in that game.
• Inaba of the Inaba. ^ExplanationOne of the official mangas is named "Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth". Snowclone titles put just about anything in place of "the Moon" and "the Earth" to have the title refer to any other story, with "Inaba" staying in place as an Inherently Funny Word.
• Now do it with Marisa. ^ExplanationA common response to Challenge Gamer videos, since Marisa is either a lower-tier character or just harder to play well in most games. There are many variations depending on the actual video, all sharing the theme of "do it even better".
• *Scarlet Devil Mansion explodes* This is now a Touhou manga. ^ExplanationA Danbooru meme that stems from this comic by Bomber Grape. Nowadays, any Touhou Doujin that gets uploaded to Danbooru and features the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the Hakurei shrine offertory box, or in some cases, anything at all exploding will have comments with the phrase. It's also fairly popular with Japanese artists as well.
  • "Oh, shit! I've been surrounded by raging lesbians! The room is ripe with the stench of bitches!"^ExplanationOne of Bomber Grape's comics has caused certain lines said by Remilia to be very popular responses when anything lesbian comes up on Danbooru and spread beyond the site. (Comic may not be SFW.) Note that the meme itself is a Woolseyism.
• Ichirin's eyelashes in Hopeless Masquerade are slowly becoming a meme due to how ridiculous they look.[1]◊
• Remixes of U.N Owen Was Her?, usually involving manipulating phrases and sound effects from various TV shows, games, or themes, as an offshoot of YouTube Poop. The McRoll is perhaps the most infamous of them all.
• kefit.wav ^ExplanationA now-retired Touhou player by the name of Kefit's scream upon losing a Lunatic run by the narrowest of margins is legendary, to the point where similar barely-failed runs have edited it into their videos despite being from entirely different people. Here are two examples of this. Turn your volume down before viewing these.
• Shou's ability to lose her Pagoda has been taken to absurd extents in both frequency and where it ends up. Matches up with Nazrin.
• Orin's silly dance in Hopeless Masquerade has spawned quite a few jokes.
• Malice Cannon, Marisa-Borked, Marisa Broken, Bugged Marisa. All fan nicknames to whenever Marisa is broken in a game. The first time it spawned was in Imperishable Night, as Malice Cannon, where consantly firing while giving regular taps to the Focus button resulted in absurd DPS. The term "Marisa Bugged" and "Marisa Broken" come from Mountain of Faith, where the Marisa B shot type had glitched damage output on the unfocused shot at 3.0 power, causing the tiny laser to demolish bosses in seconds.
• Attack on Midget^ExplanationIn Double Dealing Character, Shinmyoumaru Sukuna's second-to-final spellcard on Normal is called "Shingeki no Kobito" (進撃の小人). It literally means "Advancing Midget", but due to it being a Shout-Out to Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin), it's translated as "Attack on Midget" to be consistent.
  • Another Shinmyoumaru meme is the use of her magic mallet for...Breast Enhancement, mostly by Sakuya in relation to Sakuya's Padding meme.
• Sakuya is ZUN's girlfriend again.^ExplanationWith Sakuya's return as the sole playable character besides Reimu and Marisa in Double Dealing Character, it's become increasingly common to paint her as another girl that gave ZUN sexual favors to reach playable character status, like people did with Aya and Sanae before.
• Honk honk ^ExplanationBased on this 4-panel comic from Bkub. Bkub's silently adorable Chen has also become quite popular.
• Black Tewi.◊ ^ExplanationA doujinshi had an Author Tract basically declaring loose canon and that everyone has a different Gensokyo. This was used by various fan authors to excuse any breaks from canon. The page shown is just an excerpt.
• The games' difficulty and Bullet Hell. ^ExplanationThey're something of a meme, especially amongst those who are new to the Shoot 'Em Up genre, which is to say a large number of fans; many fans struggle to complete the game on Normal or even Easy, even if using all three continues to do so. This has made Touhou something of a gold standard for video game difficulty, with some calling the game Nintendo Hard even on Easy. This is despite the fact that the game has forgiving patterns compared to arcade Bullet Hell games; it doesn't help that arcade games will allow the player to continue as many times as their money allows, and many consumer ports of arcade games, especially more modern ones, offer more continues or an outright unlimited supply of them, giving the impression that these games are easier.
  • Touhou is harder. ^ExplanationOn videos of other shoot-em-ups, some comments will state that the game's difficulty pales in comparison to Touhou, despite it being likely that the commenter in question has never played the game that they claim is easier (or possibly even the Touhou games themselves and just enjoy them as a spectator sport), or at least to the extent that they can make a fair call on the difficulty comparison. Videos of non-Bullet Hell shooters are most vulnerable to this, due to not looking as obviously difficult to an observer (don't let that fool you, especially if the game being compared to Touhou is an arcade game). As a result, in shmup communities, "Touhou is harder" has become something of a tongue-in-cheek response to the challenge levels of non-Touhou shooters.
  • Touhou players don't need an umbrella when it rains. ^ExplanationFairly self-explanatory, a recurring joke that pops up here and there about the superhuman dodging skills and reflexes that Touhou masters develop. This is something of an exaggeration, since a lot of skilled Bullet Hell players will tell you that bullet hell games are less about reflexes and more about rehearsing and analyzing patterns.
• Seija will flip your shit ^ExplanationThe stage 5 boss of Double Dealing Character has the power of various kinds of reversal, and she was the real mastermind behind this incident, her goal being basically to cause chaos. The next game escalated this meme even further, as you were controlling her as a Villain Protagonist trying to escape retribution from basically everyone in Gensokyo, all out for your blood.
• Catchouli, Danbooru's Weapon of Mass Moe ^ExplanationHazuki Ruu is famous on Danbooru for drawing pictures of a chibi, catgirl version of Patchouli that is affectionately known as "Catchouli". Nearly all of these pictures can be found in Danbooru's Disgustingly Adorable pool, and at least one commenter per image will "die" from Catchouli's immense moe. The effect is even more pronounced if she utters her catchphrase "mukyuu" or does something cute in the image. Hazuki Ruu himself has been dubbed a "Moe Terrorist" for how good he is at creating such a lethally adorable creature. Though Catchouli is not as deeply ingrained as Inu Sakuya or Yuyuko's "Death by Moe" meme, many non-Hazuki pictures of Patchouli as a catgirl will also be given the nickname if deemed adorable enough by the community.
• In the Japanese and Chinese community (and to a smaller extent, Western YTPMV-makers too), the "Cookie☆" videos, which must be written with a Lucky Charms Title.^ExplanationThe name comes from a fully and, er, memorably voiced fan-made video involving Valentines at the Hakurei Shrine. KnowYourMeme got you covered, although it should be noted that the meme is somewhat of a touchy subject and the article is NSFW.
  • "Arranges of Heartwarming Shrine" ("ほのぼの神社アレンジ"). Searching the quote on NicoVideo will lead to plenty of mixes between whichever music the user fancies and the arrange of Dichromatic Butterfly used in the introductory scene of Cookie. Here's a mix which begins with the original and then plays short snippets from other versions. It's a best of video for a meme and still has ten minutes' worth of material.
  • Calling Marisa "Marina" in Cookie☆ videos.
• Clownpiece, arguably the most iconic and memorable character in Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom, has spawned several memes. One involves her being immensely difficult to beat, another refers to her wearing an outfit based on the USA flag, prompting many MURRICA jokes. In fact, she achieved MAXIMUM MURICA in fan art in merely a few days after the full game was released. Unsurprisingly, she rapidly became one of the most popular characters in the American Touhou community.
• Ever since Urban Legend in Limbo was released, people have taken to say "CHRIST ON A BIKE" when really shocked, in relation to Byakuren's status as Youkai Jesus and her riding an actual motorbike in the game (based on the urban legend of "Turbo Granny").
• Hecatia Lapizlazuli has been called a goth or "Hot Topic" in reference to her clothes.
  • Hecatia's Hilarious Hat Toppers.^Explanation Another common meme for Hecatia is replacing the planetoids attached to her choker with various other round objects.
• "Are you watching, Chang'e?" ^ExplanationDuring her fight with Reisen, Junko asks if her mortal enemy, Chang'e, is watching. This has led fans to interpret that she tries to get Chang'e's attention frequently, her efforts ranging from taunts to exhibitionism.
• What anime is this? ^ExplanationThis is something of a Fandom-Enraging Misconception; some folks whose initial exposure to Touhou is through popular fan animations like those for "Cirno's Perfect Math Class" and "Bad Apple!! feat. nomico" make the honest mistake of assuming Touhou is an anime, and ask something like "What anime is this?" in the comments (if the animation is hosted on a service that allows comments). Needless to say, those folks quickly learn the hard way that some Touhou fans have a Hair-Trigger Temper when it comes to this sort of question. This meme seems to have fallen out of favor with some fans, who feel that it's a form of fandom gatekeeping that scares off prospective fans.
• Awoo~◊ ^ExplanationA meme of Western origin, it has become the nickname and catchphrase for all the wolf/dog-type characters, primarily Momiji, Kagerou and Aunn to a lesser extent, and Kyouko on rare occasions. It began on 4chan in a Momiji thread, when someone asked for a picture of "the awoo one," and in response got the attached picture of Momiji howling. It left such a mark on some that it got its own subreddit, /r/awoo, where its sole member diligently kept it full of howling Momiji pictures for several months, until it was discovered by /r/touhou, and the subreddit became somewhat populated (albeit with only about ~700 members because of its extremely narrow focus). Awoo itself is widely considered a form of low-quality shitposting by its very design, and as such is not a very popular meme outside of that context.
• ZA COMPUTAAAAAAA!!! ^ExplanationOriginally from a fan comic, this phrase is used to describe the PC-98.
• One-Punch Miko ^ExplanationMultiple videos have appeared on YouTube setting the opening of One Punch Man to Touhou, with Reimu being the titular bald superhero and Marisa being Genos.
• Lifeswap.exe^ExplanationFrom a Hisoutensoku tournament. Top level Yukari irock194 is holding a commanding lead over Komachi player Vibago. irock has almost no damage whereas Vibago is near 10% left. While pressuring, irock decides to use a super, Boundary "Objective Border", which would put enough pressure on Vibago to most likely win the match. How does Vibago respond? Using his own super, Exchange "Unpitiable Life, Pitiable Life" — a LIFESWAP. Cue the screaming announcers that rave about how much of a god Vibago is for landing it.
• Kagerou is a Cat Girl ^Explanation Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla suggested to his fans to bring pictures of anime cat girls. However, Musk posted a picture of Kagerou and referred to the werewolf as a 'cat-girl'. The Touhou fandom were not amused and mocked Musk instead. Alternate versions of the meme involve Kagerou getting upset about being mistaken for a catgirl.
• Paw prints on Reimu's clothes. ^ExplanationAfter the first images of Wily Beast and Weakest Creature showed that Reimu's clothes now have white paw prints on them, all sorts of jokes have been made about how they were added. Common versions include Aunn, Orin, or some other animal-like youkai stepping on Reimu while she's sleeping or on a set of clothes she left on the floor. Saw a revival upon the announcement of Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost, which brought back the paw dress and added some to one of her sleeves as well.
• Hey mister. ^ExplanationA NSFW doujin named "A Book About Doing Naughty Things to Mistress Remilia" features a scene where Remilia walks up to a random human and says the line before requesting to do naughty things. The panel became popular among the fandom for edits having Remilia make different, usually stupid requests or just insult the person.
• Hold shift for focused movement. ^ExplanationA piece of advice given to players struggling to progress in the danmaku games. Many new players don't realize it's possible to slow down the characters' movement and try to complete the entire game without it. It's also given as deliberately unhelpful advice to more experienced players asking for help on a certain boss/spell card, in which case the real solution is usually just practice.
• It's time to duel!^Explanation The 18th Touhou title has cards used as the main mechanic which drew comparisions to Yu-Gi-Oh.
• Shoplifting^Explanation Refers to a bug in the initial demo of Unconnected Marketeers where selecting a card between stages and immediately pausing after confirming brings up the menu again, your purchase still counting. Considering one of the cards give you more money, you can endlessly buy this card to get infinite money, and then use that money to buy any amount of any card of your choosing. As shown here, Hilarity Ensues. Obviously patched out soon after the initial demo release.
• Jimbo^ExplanationThe Fan Nickname used to describe a particular Unique Enemy, the Stage 4 "midboss" of Unconnected Marketeers, an oversized yin-yang orb who is invincible for the duration of its appearance. The name is used when describing the game's sudden Difficulty Spike from its appearance onwards.
• Momoyo plays Minecraft. ^ExplanationMomoyo's digging tools look suspiciously like the golden tier of tools in Minecraft, which has resulted in both jokes about her wasting resources (gold tools are weak and their only strength is their ability to naturally hold stronger enchantment buffs), and images of her actually holding a Minecraft shovel and pickaxe, often changed to the much stronger diamond tier. Also cropping up on occasion is the question of how fast she could kill the Ender Dragon, given her species eats dragons.
• The pronunciation of Mike. ^ExplanationMike's name (which is actually pronounced "mee-kay") looks like the English name Michael, so many Western fans continue to pronounce her name as such.
• Queen Misumaru ^ExplanationMisumaru's design, mostly the hair, is said to resemble Queen Lillian from Shrek 2.
• Fusu parodies ^ExplanationParodies of pixiv artist Fusu's works, mostly consisting of a Touhou character saying that they love the reader of the post. It was a popular meme on the r/touhou subreddit due to a Fusu translation being posted daily, and people started to grow tired of his works.
• WE ARE JAPANESE GOBLIN ^ExplanationAn old MMD video featuring Suika dancing and singing with so much Engrish it's near impossible to understand her that received a remaster a decade later by well known Touhou YouTuber MTB. The remaster went on to explode in popularity across the internet (some might say it became too popular) to the point where it received it's very own metal cover by musician YaboiMatoi (complete with a brief transition to Bad Apple).
• Touhou Girls with Guns ^ExplanationTouhou YouTuber MTB is very well know for their short MMD videos of the Touhou girls using guns, which quickly caught on among fans for sheer juxtaposition of cute girls wielding modern firearms like they're in a first-person shooter.
• Canon Flan vs Fanon Flan ^ExplanationBecause Flandre's only appearance for years had been in her home game, the fanon idea of her being an Ax-Crazy psychopath locked away to protect the world from her wanton destruction became her most commonly accepted interpretation. Following her appearances in Cheating Detective Satori and Gouyoku Ibun in recent years, where she's shown to be sane and has a good grasp on her powers, many jokes have been made about how fans see her as a monster when really she's just a (mostly) normal girl. Oddly enough, it got walked back in many ways after the release of Gouyoku Ibun and english translations therein, as the Flan depicted within lacks nearly any of the "moe" traits that were associated with less violent fanon interpretations of the character, instead being solely concerned with fighting for the sake of it, though she’s still clearly more level-headed than most old fanon interpretations.
• Pokemon Remilia and Yukari/Sumireko/Satori. ^ExplanationPeople jokingly comparing the titles to the Scarlet Sisters for Scarlet, and either Yukari (Name means purple), Sumireko (Name means violet child) or the Komeiji sisters (Satori’s bluish palette and also being sisters like the Scarlets) for Violet.
• Necromantic ^ExplanationA vocal remix of Desire Drive (Seiga's stage theme) by Akatsuki Records which centers around Seiga's fanon feelings toward Yoshika. The song has become an infamous Ear Worm, in spite of (or perhaps because of) its subject matter.
  • Doki doki waku waku ^ExplanationThe first line of the chorus (and the song for that matter). Sometimes people will refer to the song by this title instead.
• Nuenis ^{Explanation (NSFW)}A shitpost that got popular in western Touhou circles depicting Nue Houjuu as having a (usually large) penis. The phrase frequently got spammed whenever Nue was brought up, to the point of nearly becoming ubiquitous with the character.
• Shinmy Abuse Day ^{Explanation (NSFW)}Once upon a time, someone in the Western fandom posted fanart of Shinmyoumaru being tortured. Somehow it became an annual tradition to post fanart of Shinmyoumaru being tortured on the anniversary of that post, much to the chagrin of Shinmyoumaru fans (fortunately this was countered by posting wholesome Shinmyoumaru fanart on the same day).
• Greenwich in the Sky/ROFL Song (NOTE: Video is safe)^ExplanationA fast arrangement of the song by Jun.A associated with rapidly flashing animations of stickmen dancing, with this version of the song being nicknamed the "ROFL Song" a la the Mc Roll mentioned above.
• Scarlet Police on Ghetto Patrol ^ExplanationA song by IOSYS that got popular due to a 2015 music video featuring art by 216, depicting Remilia and Cirno in a dance battle with back and forth rap verses. The video became a Fountain of Memes years after it released.
  • Funky ^ExplanationA bit of Gratuitous English on Cirno's verse. The character is now frequently associated with the word as a result.
  • あたいの足技みさらせやー (I'll Show You That My Footwork) ^ExplanationA TikTok trend from early 2022 where individuals would dance to the start of Cirno's verse. It got popular enough that Japanese celebrities and even ZUN himself made videos of themselves dancing to the track.
• Bang Bang Sekibanki! ^ExplanationA trend originating from the Akatsuki Records remix of Sekibanki's theme, Rock 'n' Rock 'n' Beat, which depicts Sekibanki wearing a black bodysuit in place of her normal shirt and skirt. This outfit, commonly referred to as Bang Bang Sekibanki!, was an immediate hit with fans and created a surge of Sekibanki fan art featuring the bodysuit.
• Internet Survivor Flandre ^ExplanationA red and white outfit worn by Flandre in the video for Internet Survivor by COOL&CREATE. The video itself had already gone viral due to its nature as a celebration of various fanon memes, but the costume featured also became an art trend following its release thanks to how over-the-top it is.
• Huh? No, retro consoles are like the NES and SNES, right? The PlayStation 2 and DS are still pretty new...^ExplanationFrom a one-panel fan comic by kanpa that's mean to highlight that Sanae is a Fish out of Temporal Water and thus is not aware of what's considered new in modern society. However, it's often used by gamers who grew up during the 8- and 16-bit generations of game consoles who are hit with the realization that the definition of "retro console" has shifted to also include the likes of PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360, which for those people still feel like relatively new systems.
• Hecatia Tier ^ExplanationHecatia is, as of this writing, the strongest character in all of Touhou, with ZUN himself describing her as someone "completely past the level of anyone in Gensokyo or the Lunar Capital." As such, whenever fans make tier lists of all the Touhou characters based on strength, Hecatia will always be above the strongest tiers on her own in a tier simply labeled "Hecatia"
• Yachie the Failgirl ^{Explanation (spoilers)}Yachie Kicchou suddenly became much less competent in Touhou Juuouen ~ Unfinished Dream Of All Living Ghost compared to Touhou Kikeijuu ~ Wily Beast and Weakest Creature, going from a cunning, brutal schemer who wins in the end to going through a Humiliation Conga and failing to accomplish any of her plans, notably failing to destroy the Hakurei Shrine due to not realizing Aunn could create a duplicate of herself. Many Yachie fans said that this game destroyed their faith in her and began depicting her as a blubbering mess rather than a serious villain.
• Wanna handshake? ^ExplanationDue to Enoko Mitsugashira's arms having literal bear traps on them that close accordingly to her hand clenching, she was quickly depicted as asking for handshakes.
• Scrunkly Yuuma/Yuuma Face ^ExplanationMany players were caught off-guard by Yuuma’s portrait in Unfinished Dream Of All Living Ghost given how vastly different it is in tone to her portrait in Sunken Fossil World, with the former appearing much friendlier and less threatening than the latter. Jokes about how she mellowed out between games abounded.
• Aki Sandwich ^ExplanationA minor meme that first appeared with 2022's popularity poll, where Shizuha and Minoriko Aki ranked 89th and 92nd, respectively, with the gap between them filled by Shinki and Watatsuki no Yorihime. The group of four was jokingly referred to as an Aki Sandwich. It popped back up again with 2023's popularity poll where Shizuha ranked 95th and Minoriko 100th, the gap filled this time by, in order, Medicine, Yoshika, Yorihime again, and Raiko.
• Moriya Step ^ExplanationA meme originating from a 2009 video by Nico Nico Douga user kamS, who became well-known for his unusual artstyle mixing ZUN's artstyle with incredibly surreal imagery. The video in question, based around the war between Kanako and Suwako many years ago and their partnership in the modern era, became memorable for the bizarre dances done by the pair and Sanae in the present-day segments. The meme was revitalized in 2013 when artist R_Miyamoto released the assets for a recreation of the dance in a more standard artstyle they had done for a video the year prior, leading to several memes utilizing the animations.
• Eo$D^ExplanationA derogatory term used by fans to point out the First Installment Wins treatment of The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. More specifically, characters who debuted in that game seem to get the most merchandise, whereas most other characters either have very little, or none at all. This term also became extremely popular with the playerbase of Touhou LostWord, who have criticized the devs for milking EoSD bone dry, giving each of said game's characters multiple costumes and variants, and even going so far as to make up completely new "Scarlet" variants of characters who didn't even debut up until then.
• Marisad / "But you evaded it...!" ^ExplanationEpisode 8 of Fantasy Kaleidoscope features a fight between Reimu and Marisa, culminating in Marisa making a very goofy face and complaining "But you evaded it...!" when she founds out Reimu dodged her Master Spark. People soon began making edits of it and using it as a reaction image.
• frogs go mlem mlem, snakes go pbbppbpthp bthppth, thanks for comign folks ^Explanation A phrase from an edit of a Forbidden Scrollery panel◊ that soon became associated with Sanae, Kanako, and Suwako.
• Christmas Tree Hina ^ExplanationFor many fans, Hina, with her distinctive red and green color scheme, tends to conjure up images of Christmas, and Christmas trees in particular. As such, it's a something of a yearly joke to depict Hina standing in for a Christmas tree, wrapped in lights with ornaments in her hair and a star on top of her head.
• The Death of Akyuu^ExplanationCanonically, time passes in Gensokyo at the same rate real life does, but the characters don't age to avoid the headaches that would come with certain characters getting older. This became incredibly relevant in 2024, as Akyuu has noted she would live to the age of 30 at most and, based on her age when she debuted, she would turn 30 in 2024. As a result, many fans jokingly decided the no aging rule did not apply to Akyuu and started speculating about when and how she would inevitably pass away in 2024.
• Skateboarding Futo^ExplanationFans noted that Futo's pose in her Ten Desires portrait makes it look like she's riding a skateboard. Skateboards were soon photoshopped in, and it became a popular art trend to draw her as an expert boarder.
• Seija flipping stuff^ExplanationSeija's gimmick of inverting things over (including the screen) has translated into her going around and flipping tables or throwing other characters.