Welcome to Gaia! ::

I meant to reply earlier, but I am such a procrastinator I tend to put off even things I do want to do.



It definately is important to know the diffrence between what is canon and what is fanon. I usually try to keep in mind the offcial sources, but some times fanon can just be so comfortable you know? I saw your theory of the touhou games being plays in the human village and found it to be interesting. There is alot of theories that are quite out there, I usually aproach them with initial disbelief, but by the end of it I have a habit of rubbing my chin and thinking along the lines "Hmm...maybe Rumia and Flandre are the same person" before coming to my senses sweatdrop .



I am sure he does, and it really all is amazing with everything between zun and the fans. Its a unique situation that I find to be quite interesting. Haha, ok, though I get the feeling I tend to ramble and forget my what my orginal point was.



Interesting career choice. I per psychotherepy to the "lets give him X drugs" method many seem to take. Just don't let your patients make you lose your mind and becaome a psycho therepist



Isn't as a doujin work the touhou series is for the most part self produced? Also did ZUN stop making characters? The latest game introduced Hatate and I expect the next whole number game to introduce a new group like UFO.

Anyway, I guess first off here is what ZUN had to say more or less on the character pandemic...

Q: Aren’t there a bit too many characters?
ZUN: Maybe. It’s a doujin work, so I make them more or less as I see fit, which maybe isn’t always what my users want. I don’t want to just build up a group of super popular characters, but I suppose that’s what I’d have to do in industry.

In a general sense, I get where you are coming from. The more characters you add the less unique each one becomes, as certain characteristics or roles become shared rather than focused on a single character. However touhou's unique situation I believe keeps this from being a problem, and perhaps even a strength as opposed to a crutch. Between ZUN and the fans, I think characters tend to be "felt out" until they feel right. Despite the high number of characters in the series so far, each one feels unique. Lets take team 9 for example, who all are childish low level bosses who are not particularly too smart. Dispite all having that simular charateristic and role, each has become distinct by being known and associated with certain unique charateristics. Rumia is well known for eating humans, however this is a trait that is also shared with other yokai including Mystia and Meiling, but while Rumia is well known for eating humans (probably cause it clashes quite humorously with her looking so harmless) Mysita is more known for being eaten rather than eating anything and Meiling is usually not depicted as eating humans at all. If a character ends up not really fitting or is perhaps too associated with a more popular character's traits, they simply arn't referenced as often, for example Medicine, who may not be so popular since dolls are more of Alice's area and such. Touhou's characters are also devided into groups, such as the residents of Scarlet devil mansion. This devision of parties can also serve to keep characters from being too simular by switching up how characters relate in a group dynamic. This is simular to other fictional universes which has several groups of characters, such as marvel comics which has several super strong neigh invulnerable super men, but keep the Thing, Hulk, Jugernaut, etc. diffrent by having that role played in a diffrent group with a diffrent overall chemistry. This possible problem from an abundance of characters is something we should be mindful of, but I don't think touhou is in any danger of blowing up on it self any time soon.

That reminds me of a theory I had about Rumia involving her Demarcation spellcard.

Well, after some fascinated clicking, I found out that Demarcation means "Border, or Boundary".....Well, you can guess who I thought of.



That's right, Gensokyo's resident Reality Warper, Yukari.
So then I thought "What if Rumia's an Avatar of Yukari?".
This thought is further confirmed by the fact that the only other time you see Rumia is in a few of ZUN's sourcebooks and ramblings.
And in the very next game, PCB, who should be introduced but Yukari....And looking quite similar to Rumia in terms of facial build and hair color.

You may also want to add that their outfits look quite simpler, almost being palette swaps.

Man, that was(is) a long conversation. I found myself quite interested.
May I also add that, seeing this, I can tell that we are all nerds, but at least smart ones, not the dumb jackass geek ones. xd

Hear Hear! *holds up a half-eaten cuban chicken panini*