Anime Tenchu + Touhou (Anime)

[Kagayaki]

Wow, the lightning and the colors in those pictures look awesome.

I know this is showing on Nov. 20th at Animate's event, but has anyone heard when it'll get a wider release?

[Leo_Otaku]

Originally Posted by Komari

Animation video where?

And Marisa'a delivery service, I saw it. Maybe she is leaving Gensokyo, to live by herself for a while and become an adult witch...

No sorry I meant the image quality, can't say anything about the animation since I haven't seen any yet ^-^"

[Kudryavka]

Originally Posted by Leo_Otaku

No sorry I meant the image quality, can't say anything about the animation since I haven't seen any yet ^-^"

Oh okay, I thought I missed some promo material.

[addiC]

does any1 know where can i find the full song for the trailer in the video posted in the first page...

[kenjiharima]

Saw this awhile back didn't really interested me, will just wait for it to air. The only one Iam looking forward to is Anime Tenchou. Hope he'll be in more animes to be aired he's an awesome character.

[synaesthetic]

If ZUN wasn't so hell-bent against a proper animated Touhou feature, we'd have oodles of them by now.

I wonder how ZUN can say no to the enormous amount of money expanding the Touhou franchise will make him?

Maybe he's just jealous because his art skills are... pretty bad.

[LoweGear]

I heard that ZUN was against "official" anime to preserve the malleability of the Touhou lore: basically, if an "official" anime were to be produced, given its popularity and exposure the people who see it would be lead to believe that the portrayal of Touhou in the anime would be the "canon" interpretation, taking out a large part of Touhou's "by the fans for the fans" flavor. ZUN seems fine with short doujin anime shorts and the such though, except the Maikaze one.

Not that I don't understand the intent, but still it would be nice to have a nice "official" anime interpretation of Touhou. Heck, why not do an anthology anime similar to Halo: Legends, Batman: Gotham Knight or Animatrix, featuring different styles and different interpretations of the lore?

[Honoakari]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

Maybe he's just jealous because his art skills are... pretty bad.

Oh, come on, ZUN's art skills have improved lately.

@LoweGear: Touhou has always been about games. An official anime would just distract people from the essence of Touhou, generating more and more secondary fans. ZUN is against this, because he wants people to know Touhou through his works. That's all.

[Duo Maxwell]

Originally Posted by LoweGear

I heard that ZUN was against "official" anime to preserve the malleability of the Touhou lore: basically, if an "official" anime were to be produced, given its popularity and exposure the people who see it would be lead to believe that the portrayal of Touhou in the anime would be the "canon" interpretation, taking out a large part of Touhou's "by the fans for the fans" flavor.

I still believe this is the main reason. If somehow ZUN's character portraits conflict with said "official anime", it will lead to ugly debating. ZUN doesn't care as long as it's "doujin".

[Kunagisa]

Originally Posted by addiC

does any1 know where can i find the full song for the trailer in the video posted in the first page...

I do actually. Any preference for which uploader? I can PM it to you since I don't know if it's against the rules to post it.

[whitepearl]

Originally Posted by LoweGear

ZUN seems fine with short doujin anime shorts and the such though, except the Maikaze one.

What did he say about the Touhou doujin anime Maikaze made?

[darkchibi07]

Originally Posted by Duo Maxwell

I still believe this is the main reason. If somehow ZUN's character portraits conflict with said "official anime", it will lead to ugly debating. ZUN doesn't care as long as it's "doujin".

But can the Touhou franchise pull something similar to what DC and Marvel has been doing? I mean, there has been a lot of animated interpretations (plus some other media) of various DC and Marvel characters, and they didn't distract from the original comics.

[Decagon]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

If ZUN wasn't so hell-bent against a proper animated Touhou feature, we'd have oodles of them by now.

I wonder how ZUN can say no to the enormous amount of money expanding the Touhou franchise will make him?

Maybe he's just jealous because his art skills are... pretty bad.

His sketches actually look worlds better than his finished game art for some reason. Check out the MAG-Net interview with him to see him sketch or his blog for some scans. One of the fans who was interviewed even said the bad art inspires fans to think "Hey, I can draw better than that!" and poof you get impetus for fanart and doujinshi .

Originally Posted by whitepearl

What did he say about the Touhou doujin anime Maikaze made?

ZUN posted that he'd prefer if works like that didn't sell outside of the venues where the games were sold (ie, kept the sales within douninshi selling stores and not advertise to a general audience).

It may seem like that's being restrictive on where fanworks can sell or not but it's not really the case. There are stores with huge sections devoted to doujinshi like Gamers and Animate of which many shelves carry Touhou goods, not to mention the stores that only sell doujinshi goods, and limiting doujin circles to selling in those venues is not restrictive at all.

Originally Posted by darkchibi07

But can the Touhou franchise pull something similar to what DC and Marvel has been doing? I mean, there has been a lot of animated interpretations (plus some other media) of various DC and Marvel characters, and they didn't distract from the original comics.

You could say that's what he did with the Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth 4koma comic, which was part of the official SSiB trio but the mangaka had lots of leeway over the story and jokes. In a way, that's sort of what is already happening with lots of people doing their own doujinshi of the Touhouverse. Circles have doujinshi with their own continuous storylines, some extending over several books. Others do vignettes with various characters in different situations. Of course for official lore, ZUN's still the only writer.

I think the main point is that ZUN doesn't want something to be made that attract's a fandom which isn't interested in the games/music/existing fandom.



I can actually understand ZUN's concerns pretty well as the situation he's concerned about actually happened to a webcomic I loved as a kid. The webcomic had a huge following at its peak with fans putting together voice clips for strips, motion comics, art contests, web games, and even a fan made radio show. The radio show was voiced and authored by some egotistical /b/ prick who took on the author's self-insert character from the webcomic and eventually fans who came to the comic's site mistook that guy for the real author. He promoted the radio show in different places and attracted his own following who frequently supported him when he was at odds with the original author to the point where the original author just couldn't take it any more because of how the guy twisted the personality of his SI character.

[Arabesque]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

I wonder how ZUN can say no to the enormous amount of money expanding the Touhou franchise will make him?

I had always thought that he was a bit like Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes, who was afraid that by capitalising on it, he would cheapen the characters and the series. But reading some of the things in this thread, I'm hesitant to think that anymore ...

Originally Posted by Duo Maxwell

I still believe this is the main reason. If somehow ZUN's character portraits conflict with said "official anime", it will lead to ugly debating. ZUN doesn't care as long as it's "doujin".

Why?

I mean, it's like darkchibi07 mentioned, there have been different animated interpretations of comic characters, but that didn't all of the sudden mean they became the official representation. A lot of things were different but they still stayed true to the original character spirit.

Originally Posted by Decagon

I think the main point is that ZUN doesn't want something to be made that attract's a fandom which isn't interested in the games/music/existing fandom.

Which, if true, while respectable and understandable, would be a very silly reason. I mean, the old fandom is not going to die off and disappear just because a new one grows interest in the anime. Having another venue for people to learn about Touhou would be a good thing, even if it was an OVA or some sort of anthology anime.

[risingstar3110]

I agree that if Touhou ever become official anime, it should only follow closely the material inside the games, nothing more...

Because I don't think any animation studio can explore the world of Gensokyou as well and as whacky as the fan art

PS: the trailer is superb btw

[Duo Maxwell]

Originally Posted by Arabesque

I mean, it's like darkchibi07 mentioned, there have been different animated interpretations of comic characters, but that didn't all of the sudden mean they became the official representation. A lot of things were different but they still stayed true to the original character spirit.

Maybe it's not his reason, just what I feel. Like how the fandom has interpreted Momiji's character, and when ZUN's description about her got revealed in DS, it's quite an ugly sight to watch the two side going at each other. Now imagine an anime involve.....

But that's said, whatever the reason is, I respect the man for what he did, is doing and will do, and for what his decision is. People have different way of thinking, and Touhou is his child, so he's just doing what he thinks is the best for the franchise.

Originally Posted by risingstar3110

PS: the trailer is superb btw

They released the trailer? Do you have the link?

[tsunade666]

stay true to the spirit? there had been tons of doujin and spin off for touhou that it had tons of story and hard to understand what is canon and what is not, specially if you haven't seen played the game.

Is there a trailer for this one? I thought that the first video is just some amv for touhou but not the one pertaining to this.

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by risingstar3110

PS: the trailer is superb btw

If you're talking about the one posted in the first page, that's not a trailer for this anime, but another fan-made Touhou animation.

[Leo_Otaku]

everyone is getting confused XD

[Kudryavka]

Originally Posted by darkchibi07

But can the Touhou franchise pull something similar to what DC and Marvel has been doing? I mean, there has been a lot of animated interpretations (plus some other media) of various DC and Marvel characters, and they didn't distract from the original comics.

Those comic makers nowadays are out to make money in any way possible, not to mention they're so integrated into major league pop culture that just about everyone knows Superman, Batman, and all that good stuff came from comics. This isn't the case with Touhou, so an official anime could easily eclipse the games.

Originally Posted by Decagon

His sketches actually look worlds better than his finished game art for some reason. Check out the MAG-Net interview with him to see him sketch or his blog for some scans. One of the fans who was interviewed even said the bad art inspires fans to think "Hey, I can draw better than that!" and poof you get impetus for fanart and doujinshi .

IMHO drawings always look better in pencil. The unsure sketchy lines can be interpreted into any of a myriad of possible ways to make the drawing work. Then you're forced to ditch the unsureness and lay it down true with inked lines and wham! - it hits you how tricked you were before. I've seen his sketches, and on the surface they do look better than in-game art.