The Largest Pool

The Touhou series features some of the most uniquely designed and intricate characters ever. Obviously most of this comes from the fandom, and not so much the canon where only the framework is provided. Nonetheless, I've been within fandoms with enough cast herds to overwhelm the average human, and Touhou is no exception, but unlike the many other fandoms I've been within I've actually cared about more than a select few characters. A large reason is that rather than introducing a whole mess of characters first, several were brought in year-by-year, each of them representing their own game that extends and develops the world we know as Gensokyo. They all have relationships with characters around them that make sense, and their chance meeting with the main characters tends to make sense as well. The only exception to this are either the early bosses who are just random youkai the heroines decide to exterminate along the way, or an extra boss who may or may not be related to the plot itself.

So I've gathered a few top-threes, top characters who I believe especially fit a particular archetype. They aren't necessarily my most favourite characters, but if one of your favourites is in this list then I can completely understand why they might be, starting with...

PARSEE IS JEALOUS OF EVERYONE BELOW

bad·ass

noun /ˈbadˌas/  badasses, plural A tough, aggressive, or uncooperative person - one of them is a real badass, the other's pretty friendly adjective /ˈbadˌas/  Tough or aggressive - a strange fellow with a badass temper Particularly bad or severe - some badass virus I'd caught at sea Formidable; excellent - this was one badass camera

I don't believe this definition really does justice to the term "badass". I've been known to overuse and abuse the term for several characters who I strongly believed fit the definition, but to put down all my bias (or at least most of it) we all know pretty much every character in Touhou can be badass one way or another. Yes, even Maribel or Rinnosuke or Sunny Milk or Daiyousei. They can all be badass too! What makes a character more so in this category than others is how they're designed, what their personality is, and what they've done or have already been through. The ability of the character counts too, but one very badass character, Yuuka Kazami, has the ability to manipulate flowers, so obviously the ability isn't all that important. And the top three most badass characters in Touhou are...?

3. Shou Toramaru
I think while the top two of this list won't be very contested, this one might be. There are simply far too many badass Touhou characters to fit in a top-three list, including katana-wielding samurai gardener Youmu, or time-stopping knife-throwing ninja maid Sakuya. Then you have others who could also be in this category, like the destructive Yuuka or Flandre. Even so I went with Shou. Why?
The king of all beasts is in my opinion, the tiger. If a character is associated with such a beast, they'd have to be mighty badass to be so. If, for example, Meiling was actually associated with dragons (and not simply just theorized to be) she might end up on this list too, but alas she is not.

While fandom itself does not treat Shou well in the whole badassery department, I believe she still manages to hold onto third place with several factors besides the whole tiger thing. One, she's got that theme. It's not my favourite theme, and not a particularly popular theme by all means but everyone will agree about one thing. It is a powerful theme. Even ZUN's comments suggest that when composing it he was going for a powerful, strong message when one fights Shou and it is incredibly fitting when you reach her in UFO. Second, her spellcards. Not only are their names some of the fiercest names you might hear, (Light Sign [Absolute Justice]) all of them are LASERS. No character in all of Touhou has been associated with lasers quite as much as Shou. Ask any Touhou fan and they will tell you how much they fear her signature curved lasers, which although aren't the first of their kind are certainly the codified kind. And while breaking the laws of physics is not unique to Shou in this franchise, it's still quite a feat itself.

Finally, Shou is the disciple of Bishamonten, who is often thought of as the God of War. She is even sometimes portrayed as the avatar of Bishamonten himself, and thus a God of War herself. Then there's her design, oh how I absolutely love her design. She's technically wearing pants underneath her excessively-fancy garb, but that makes her look important. Cirno is often portrayed badass in fanworks, but a lot of that has to do with her personality, and her outfit is nowhere as extravagant. Her hair is streaked with black, and I may not have seen many tiger-associated characters in my existence but never had I seen one so directly referencing the tiger as much as that. There's also her gravity-defying...cloth scarf thing, along with her spear and pagoda. I don't know if anyone notices that her pants are actually quite frilly, but who can notice? Her outfit is so complicated while she herself is so busy being badass, that one does not notice her frilly pants. Who else wears pants in this series, really?

2. Utsuho Reiuji

Well this one is obvious. The moment you hear her theme, see her design, and see her spellcards you instantly know that ZUN has outdone himself. A hell raven with gigantic black wings with a massive space cape while her arm is in-cased in a cannon and her foot in-cased in concrete and the red-Sauron-like-eye smack-dab on her chest...a huge reason Utsuho is on this list is due to her design. While your jaw is on the ground from the utter epicness of her design (or alternatively, trying to figure out the wing thing actually is a space cape because ZUN has weird drawings) you hear the music blaring into your eardrums with instant awesome. You try to dodge her non-spell and finally you hear this signal, this signal that yes, you are going to die. You finally see caution signs passing through the screen and suddenly GIANT SUNS are flying towards you. GIANT SUNS.

She literally has the power of a thousand suns. She's also the person responsible for keeping the fires of hell nice and toasty, and so the nuclear hell raven has come forth. I can keep repeating her features: gigantic black wings, gigantic white cape with space/star-like pattern on it, gigantic cannon that shoots out gigantic suns, large demonic-eye on chest, and a leg in-cased in concrete. How on earth do you manage to put so many ingredients of instant awesome on one person and not possibly overdose on epic? HOW!? How does a person even come into contact with such an insane magnitude of power in the first place!? Well that might be due to Utsuho eating a god.

Oh, Shou might be the AVATAR of a god, but Utsuho ATE one. Most people, in their minds, believe gods to be ultimate deities with infinite power and nothing can trump them at all, ever. Touhou kind of subverts all of that, like making certain goddesses the very first-boss of a certain game. Even so, Gods are still not to be trifled with in Touhou, and if you happen to eat one, particularly Yagatarasu, who is basically the Sun God you now have the power of nuclear fusion. The ability to nuke anything in an instant. This combined with the endless hard metal remixes of Nuclear Fusion and the numerous redesigns of her cannon make Utsuho one tough, badass customer to deal with. She simply exemplifies badass...she bleeds badassery. And then you suddenly remember that this is only number two on the badass list. Someone is even more.

1. Fujiwara no Mokou
A person who knows absolutely nothing of Touhou would probably be wondering why a person wearing suspenders is more badass than...well, Utsuho, the nuclear hell raven who flings suns at you. In the end there is more than just design or affiliation that makes a character badass. There is more than just spellcards or even music (even though Immortal Smoke is an excellent song!) that makes a character badass. The greatest reason is the character. A man with an absolutely impeccable beard and biceps the size of an average human head would not be badass if he were cowering underneath a table during a robbery. The badass person could instead be a little girl who trips the perpetrator and ends up stopping the crime. Mokou is that little girl to the extreme.

Mokou was a young girl accompanying a man on a mountain who was delivering the Hourai Elixir to its doom. Think of Lord of the Rings where Frodo must throw the one ring into Mordor, in this case the man was trying to rid of the elixir since it grants immortality. Rather than a happy ending where people move on to a paradise beyond life however, Mokou instead pushes the man off the mountain to his death, steals the elixir, and drinks it for herself. I am not implying that murder is badass, simply detailing her backstory, mind you. So now Mokou is an immortal. This isn't the good kind of immortality where it also keeps you invincible from everything unfortunately, rather the kind where if you happen to die you simply are resurrected, including the whole pain and disease part. So after a thousand or so years of being shunned from never aging and so being a social outcast, Mokou winds up in Gensokyo.

Here, she reunites with Kaguya, her mortal...or rather, immortal enemy. The reason she stole the elixir all those years ago was because Kaguya humiliated her father's honour, and she wanted revenge. The elixir was affiliated with Kaguya and it turns out she ended up drinking it all those years ago as well. So now they spend all their time killing each other in utter hatred. You're probably wondering where the badass part comes in. Mokou is immortal and when you fight her in Imperishable Night...you're killing her. Every single time you defeat one of her spellcards, she dies. She then comes back, exclaims how painful that last death was (well she's mostly saying "Ow! That hurts!" than anything, really), and continues attacking you. She is also an excellent fire manipulator, and so due to her tenacity as an immortal and her element, is often portrayed as a phoenix. A few of her spellcards even depicts her with the phoenix wings. In short, she is a loner atoner destined to be alone FOREVER who is hot-blooded, keeps fighting despite having her arms seared off or is heavily bleeding, and sets things ablaze in an inferno of phoenix fury. In even more short, Mokou can't die even if she is killed.

And if that isn't badass, I don't know what is.

More images: Mokou  |  Utsuho  |  Shou  |  Mokou and Utsuho  |  Mokou vs. Utsuho  | Shou vs. Iku

After that incredibly GAR showcase, we'll going to wind down with (or perhaps cause heart-attacks) ...

This picture is here to make up for the fact that none of them made it to this list.

cute

adjective /kyo͞ot/  cuter, comparative; cutest, superlative Attractive in a pretty or endearing way - a cute kitten Sexually attractive Affectedly or superficially clever - I don't want to be cute with you

I was wondering whether or not to use the term moé or adorable or something, but in the end I think this fits the definition best. I'm not talking about the second definition, but rather the first one, the most common definition of cute. Anyway this is going to be a very very subjective category. Just like badass, but in fact even more so, every character in all of Touhou can fit into this category one way or another. I am going to break the mold and not throw in every moéblob into this top three because that would be far too obvious, and I can't think of reasons to describe how CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNN is cute in three paragraphs. So unlike the first category this one will be filled with shameful, shameful bias. Regardless, read away!

3. Keine Kamishirasawa
Before you throw shoes at me let me explain. I can indeed explain why the mature adult-like teacher of Touhou often the one to educate the immature characters in the pristine topic of history is here. I can indeed explain why the character often considered "disgusting" or "creepy" due to a horrible meme making her out as some sort of hopeless pervert for Mokou is here. I CAN EXPLAIN IT ALL. Actually I don't need to, I genuinely truly believe she is one of the most adorable characters of Touhou and a large part of the reason why she is one of my favourites. Maybe it's what the artists do and how they portray or draw her. I don't know, but I really think she's quite adorable and here is how.

I think a large part of it has to do with my interpretation of Keine being a lot different from everyone else's. It's probably because she isn't a particularly popular character and most people just see her as a role like a teacher or that friend of Mokou's. One very huge aspect of Keine that is adorable is her SUKUSUKU HAKUTAKU form which is an adorable if somewhat-derpy looking ball of animal thing. Not to mention the random ribbon tied to her horn is not only hilarious but somehow adorable despite its ridiculousness. I quite enjoy reading comments from non-Touhou fans about her character. The most common question is: "Why is there a box/house on her head?" which I think complements her head nicely and well, is cute. What can I say?

The most adorable Touhou picture I have ever seen is of Keine for some reason. Her relationship with Mokou (pairing-wise or not, doesn't matter) has some of the fluffiest, cutest interactions I have ever seen. Also I like to think those that are cute should also be pretty nice people. I know the next example isn't the first character a person would think of when I mention nice, but they're not a jerkass either. In fact I don't believe anyone on this list is a jerkass, which is good. One of my favourite artists also draws Keine in a style that simply makes me squee whenever I look at it, and it isn't because she's super-deformed. I think if you can make a character adorable without shrinking their bodies and enlarging their heads, you've done something right!

2. Nue Houjuu
I did say I was biased. I also did say they were kind of not jerkasses but not people you'd think of as saints either. (Byakuren is pretty cute, anyway) It's not because she's my favourite character (or rather perhaps it's the reason she's cute that makes her one of my favourite characters) but besides pointing out her personality or pointing out all the cute chibi pictures of Nue screaming NUUUUUEEEENN~ every time she sees a shrimp tempura I think the plot of UFO really made me evaluate Nue's character a lot differently than I first did when I hated the guts out of her. As an example I am going to use a different character, one Remilia Scarlet from the sixth installment of the Touhou series.

The aspect of charisma break is kind of like a mixture of badassery and cuteness. Basically the character, in this case Remilia, believes herself to possess a great amount of charisma and thus to everyone else looks like a very cool person everyone looks up to. She then messes up and turns into this blob of tears that everyone although laughs at, also expresses an onomatopoeia of "wow, that is adorable!". Nue is kind of like this but far more downplayed because Remilia's charisma breaks have been done, done again, done again, subverted, twisted, done straight, done twisted, done straight again...and well, you get somewhat tired of it. A trait of a person to be truly fascinating should show up occasionally or rarely, not all the damn time. Otherwise it gets tiring and a writer or some sort of storyteller begins to forget the character's other traits and they turn into a one-dimensional character who only charisma breaks.

But I digress, that's not what this is about. Basically just like Keine's ridiculous hat, you can't quite take Nue seriously. She's meant to be some sort of eldritch abomination and then you see this young girl wearing leggings and a one-piece outfit that shows off her youthful curves. Her reaction is adorable when all of her horrible fear-mongering tactics are outdated and inefficient. I also found her regret after UFO happened to be one of those human-like qualities I have ever seen in a youkai in Touhou ever. This is strange because at the same time I kind of see Nue as the most-youkai-like of any youkai. Considering she is from a long time ago and she follows the traditional ways of the youkai by scaring humans. This is not so in the present (or not as widespread, at least) and those who did live in her time-frame still around in the present aren't into the whole scaring business. It's adorable, in a character sort of way.

1. Utsuho Reiuji
Wait, didn't we discuss her already? Wasn't she like the epitome of badassery and ultimate power? Despite all of this, deep down and inside the hell raven is probably one of the most adorable characters in Touhou. She's not a loli or anything, nor is she one of the characters often portrayed as a moéblob ala Chen or Kyouko, but like I said for Mokou....character is what makes Okuu (her pet name! :D) completely HNNNNGH-worthy. Despite all the suns and gigantic wings or space capes or demonic eyes or arm cannons she might have, Okuu is really just an ordinary hell raven with an ordinary...one-track mind. She's a dumb bird. I like to think of Okuu as the combination of Mokou, Flandre, and Cirno. She has Mokou's burning badassery, Flandre's desire for destruction, and Cirno's intellect. All that rolled into one, and I wonder how she manages to stay stable. (Oh wait, she doesn't)

Despite being a stage six boss, Utsuho is a pet. A pet of one Satori Komeiji, and she is extremely naive. She's also said to be stupider than even Cirno, but let's stick to the naive part first. A good reason why the incident in Subterranean Animism even happened is due to Okuu misunderstanding what she was supposed to do with her newfound power, which was for electricity. I saw one doujin that depicted Okuu's personality perfectly in my opinion. She asked this newcomer who wanted to kill Satori, to not kill Satori because everyone likes Satori! She said it was okay for the newcomer to hate her, so long as they like Satori. I think her loyalty to Satori as well as Orin's loyalty to her, as well as this Chireiden family entirely is a complete mess of adorable all stuck together. She also misinterprets things in the most adorable of ways and I cannot really describe it all without linking you to a million things, so.

Then there's "unyu~". Her catchphrase. Sure Patch has mukyuu, and Suwako as aaauuu~ but I strongly believe Utsuho's is the cutest one. Her love for boiled eggs...who else has a canon favourite food? Utsuho is so simple-minded, so young and inexperienced in comparison to the several thousand-years-old characters who also exist in Touhou. Okuu may not have trumped Mokou in the badass department, but she has a stronghold of the cutest in all of Touhou, the lovable derpy hell raven.

Yes, I just realized no true loli-character ended up on this list. Blame bias. I'm sure everyone wants to lynch me for not mentioning Flandre or Chen or Kyouko or Kogasa or Koishi or something. You know if they actually find this very well hidden blog in the cobwebs of the internet! Until then I shall bask in the glory of proclaiming that none of those characters are the cutest! Wahahahahahaha~! *hit by shoe*

More images: Okuu  |  Nue  | EX-Keine  |  Sukusuku Hakutaku  |  Nue with Tyranitar  | Okuu with Orin

So let's do something with a little more depth shall we, with our last category:

She'd be fourth on this list. Really.

char·ac·ter

noun /ˈkariktər/  characters, plural The mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual - running away was not in keeping with her character The distinctive nature of something - gas lamps give the area its character The quality of being individual, typically in an interesting or unusual way - the island is full of character Strength and originality in a person's nature - she had character as well as beauty A person's good reputation - to what do I owe this attack on my character? A written statement of someone's good qualities; a recommendation A person in a novel, play, or movie A part played by an actor A person seen in terms of a particular aspect of character - he was a larger-than-life character - shady characters An interesting or amusing individual

That was long. There's even more in the definition but it doesn't work in this context. Nonetheless unlike the second category I might have a hard time fitting all the stuff I want to say in three paragraphs, but hey I'll try. Touhou introduced many characters that really had no depth to them. They were just there, well this category does not touch on those type of characters no matter how much the fandom has expanded on them. No, here we will have the character with an actual backstory, a reason for their personality, a reason for all their actions and they truly would be three-dimensional characters. At least in my opinion.

3. Fujiwara no Mokou
I already touched on her earlier, but now rather than focusing on why she kicks ass all the time I can actually talk about her character which I find rather fascinating. She may not be as complicated as Kaguya in terms of personality, but I do find her more sympathetic than the moon princess, and a lot of the reason is her reaction to her immortality as opposed to Kaguya's. Kaguya for example, has Eirin who may or may not be immortal or at least is just really, really old. She also has a few other youkai friends in Reisen and Tewi who may not be as long lived but being youkai will exist for quite a while before leaving for the Sanzu River. I'm not sure if Mokou ever grew close to anyone in the many years she's been alive until Keine, and we don't even know, canonly, how close a friend she is to Keine, but let's think.

You're a teenager. How many stupid mistakes have you made as a teenager? Imagine someone not wearing protection while in bed with someone else and finding out they were pregnant a few weeks later. In today's society you can get an abortion (albeit somewhat controversial) and be done with it. Maybe be yelled at by your parents depending on their stance on things (most likely though) but otherwise a pretty reversible mistake. (Well, unless they come with an STD >_>) But Mokou could not reverse her mistake. She can never reverse her mistake, that of drinking the elixir and becoming immortal. In a way that is tragic, but a lot of characters in Touhou actually enjoy immortality in whatever form they have it, be it Kaguya herself or Yuyuko's inability to enter the resurrection cycle and even the newest game introduced new immortals who are fine with it. So even if Mokou's situation seems a tad cliché in fiction it's not all that common in Touhou.

She, like pretty much every character in Touhou doesn't lament about it too much anyway, but she does keep away from others or at least that's what fanworks seem to indicate. Her relationship with Keine is pretty crucial in that case, even if Keine herself won't last forever which is an overdone topic so I'm not going to touch much onto it, but combine that with her undying nature and probably if not now, in the future her only purpose in life: killing Kaguya. Kaguya is immortal like her, and her hatred (or maybe they're bored by now and doing it for kicks, however you interpret it) will be never-ending. On the other hand the two will never be alone either, so they'd have to at the very least grudgingly tolerate each other once the whole world is dead and just a wasteland. (It might suck though, if the sun for example blows up and engulfs the earth would they not either be dying constantly or at least unconscious the entire time? I don't know. It's kind of a disturbing concept to really look into)

And yet she is only third, but probably due to bias and not really because how in-depth she is. I can't think of a proper way to order these!

2. Koishi Komeiji
Koishi, and probably in extension, Satori is a rather interesting story brought up in the game Subterranean Animism. While Utsuho going crazy and wishing to engulf the surface in flames is pretty interesting in itself, especially how Orin reacts I think the deeper tale comes from their mistresses, or owners, the Komeiji Sisters. A lot of what Koishi has either become or how it was done is exaggerated in many ways in fandom, be it turning Koishi into a literal psychopath or making Satori out to be some sort of horrible failure of a sister. I don't really believe it's quite that extreme, but one fact I do believe out of all this is that Satori is the stronger sister, mentally that is. Koishi on the other hand claims to be a better fighter than Satori but we all know the words of the Gensokyo residents must be taken with a grain of salt.

It's a pretty simple story of a girl feeling like an outcast due to her nature, and so running away from said nature rather than facing her problems head on like a healthy person. How she does this is interpreted in many different ways. I personally like the more gruesome/permanent approach of ripping the artery from her third-eye to her head off. The fact that she doesn't have one compared to Satori is an odd mystery, especially since a vein leading to the head for mind-reading would make a lot of sense. She then throws herself in a self-imposed exile, and begins to no longer feel of those desperate times in the past, hated by everyone around her. This was not because people did not hate her anymore, but rather she no longer was able to care. With her third eye closed, she could not understand other people's hearts, and just goes around invisible-like within people's subconscious to do as she pleases.

Have you ever wondered where those hobos on the street came from? What their life was like before they winded up on the streets? If people actually noticed Koishi wandering around I'm sure they too would wonder as well. What is a satori doing above ground? Why is she taking our food in plain sight? Why does she lack the manners and gestures normal people would have in certain situations? The extra boss always was that weird one in comparison to the rest of the cast. Flandre the crazy vampire to Remilia's vampire, Yukari the even more of a whimsical troll to Yuyuko's whimsical troll, etc. I find Koishi to really be a fascinating change on a regular satori species, and it shows that not only is ZUN borrowing from Japanese folklore, but also subverting it whenever he can.

This finally leads into the most obvious conclusion...

1. Byakuren Hijiri
What can I say? I love the UFO plot. Sometimes I wonder how realistic a character like Byakuren can be. I am somewhat annoyed by the few, but existing naysayers who believe Byakuren might be some sort of Mary-Sue (but then they tend to include people like Yukari and Reimu as well, so uh) but in the context of that which is Gensokyo it doesn't really seem like it to me, at all. Perhaps if she were in a different fictional world with a completely different philosophy she would, particularly the idealistic stories where happy endings will always come if you believe, but that is not what Gensokyo is and so I find her to be a refreshing character amongst all the cynicism and greed that envelops the population of Gensokyo. Shikieiki isn't worried for no reason, you know.

Really though, to be a Buddhist monk, to have carnal fears such as the fear of death that motivate you so strongly to seek immortality. This to me is already strange because in my limited knowledge of Buddhism I was under the impression they believed in reincarnation, so should death come they would be reborn in a whole different life anyway. On the other hand, Buddhist monks aren't supposed to reincarnate, as they're apparently meant to reach Nirvana at this point. Don't cite me on that though. The thing is the whole immortality business in Touhou is rather interesting, and only further brought forward from the release of Ten Desires. How many times have you heard the word immortality be mentioned in whatever you're reading or watching, and end up seeing that it tends to be the ambitious goal of a villain seeking to rule everything forever by having eternal life. I've never seen such a goal sought after by a type of role meant to be pure and free of all desire. It just tells me that humans come and humans go, but humans will always be in their nature, human.

Without that fear part, I wouldn't find her character so fascinating. There has to be a reason that drives her to help others besides just wanting to help others. How many famous people started up a charity for some sort of disease without actually being personally affected by it? Tell me how many there are and I bet you you can't even name one. So in this case it actually feels realistic, and it's not like a true Mary-Sue where everyone loves you forever. She drew many enemies for her actions and she ultimately did not succeed in her goal because she was sealed. How she even ended up being sealed I do not know, for this part of the story is largely interpreted by the fandom. For some reason the one I most commonly see is Byakuren willing to be sealed because of some sort of crisis, and maybe it fits. Maybe it fits? Or maybe there was someone powerful enough to restrain her against her will, and she only got used to her sealing in Makai because of how long she was there.

Truly it is powerful if she still has the goal after a thousand years, and even more so that people did not forget her. After all that time they wished to set her free, and so the story of UFO continues to be the strongest reason I have for loving Touhou.

More images: Byakuren  |  Koishi  | Mokou  |  Mokou with Kaguya  | Koishi with Satori  | Byakuren with Shou

That is all I have for today's fandom post. This originally some sort of image critique thing but I couldn't finish it. It's also pretty much a gigantic touch-up on my interpretation of Murasa anyway, who never got mentioned in this post. Like I said, not necessarily my favourite characters, and the fact that I did not include her anywhere here probably baffles people as to why she is my favourite, but the answer will come soon.

Touhou Music

This blog is very dead, so let's add some Touhou which I am insanely into atm. Especially the music!

I believe in one of my previous posts I discussed my lists of favourite music such as my top seven or my favourites of each stage. I forgot if I actually linked the playlist which I compiled at that time (and updated today!) here. I figure why not throw in some comments as I listen to each. The entire playlist is only two hours long, so I hope any potential reader finds time to listen through them all.



It's in order from Title theme to credit theme. I didn't include songs from the spinoff games (well besides UNL) because they aren't my favourites, but eh. P: We start off amazingly with the title theme from UNL...

Did You See That Shadow?

In the danmaku games the title is always a remix of one single song from whenever ZUN used this song, I'd imagine from the first game in the PC-98 series. I find that song pretty nice, but in my opinion the title song from the fighting games is better. This one is actually a remix of the one in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, but the addition of steam-sounds give this song a great-steampunk like effect and it just sounds that much more epic. The description of the video fits it well. When I open UNL, I feel damn READY to fight! That's what this song makes me feel. It tells me I CAN DO ANYTHING! Then I subsequently lose with my crappy Suwako, but you know what I mean.

The next comes from MoF, stage 1 theme...

A God That Loves People ~ Romantic Fall

Well first of all stage one themes never really interested me at first because well, they're the stage one theme. Certainly the one from EoSD has a bit of nostalgic feeling in it as it's my first danmaku game and I listened to that one song over and over again because I suck at the game, but in terms of sounding nice the one from MoF, Shizuha's theme is surprisingly nice. I first heard it in a remix actually, as I have yet to play MoF. (Only played EoSD, broke my tradition and tried UFO olololol [ UFO ON EASY MODO IS HARDER THAN EoSD AND 10D ON NORMAL MODO WTF!!! So brutal D: I will never reach Murasa. ;_;], and the 10D Trial) The melody is simple and catchy and fits the title well, it's not some sad song or whatever, very fitting. I'm not very good at music analyzing though so moving on, P:

Finally a very recent one from Ten Desires...

Night Sakura of Dead Spirits

I was mighty surprised when I saw that Yuyuko was the first boss of Ten Desires, but before I realized she was the boss, the stage one theme music immediately captured my attention. It was in an instant tied with Romantic Fall once I heard it. The rest of the songs from the 10D trial weren't as amazing as this (still good though!) but 10D being the first game I tried out when it came out and not a dozen years after, it was rather refreshing. I had yet to listen to any particular good remix of it so far, but it's definitely one of my favourites now. Moving on!

Then we go to UFO, my these songs sure come from the more recent titles!

A Tiny, Tiny, Clever Commander

This was not hard to choose. First because I like Nazrin. Second because the other stage one songs are inferior. Third because OH MY GOD A STAGE ONE THEME WITH ELECTRIC GUITAR IN IT ALREADY!? Yes Nazrin. You are awesome. You have an awesome theme. You also are my only Touhou icon, since she's Nazrin. I mean in the other games you go to stage one boss, the song is pretty good, but it's not as "this character is an important person in this game!" kind of song. After all the rest of the stage one bosses have nothing to do with the plot. The moment you hear this song you realize that yes, Nazrin isn't some random youkai keeping you from your valiant quest to loot investigate a ship! Damn well important you are, Nazrin!

We return to more MoF goodness with...

The Road of the Apotropaic God ~ Dark Road

I actually heard this theme remixed first in Touhoumon Emerald. I liked it. I just never realized which game it came from though, which is stupid because this played whenever Team Kero showed up (or in caves that they're in, close enough), lead by Hina so OF COURSE IT'S HER STAGE THEME SONG OMG. Plus I do not have a high opinion of Hina, not that I hate her but I was under the impression that she was fairly unpopular, yet her rankings in popularity polls are actually very respectable which is quite surprising. The thing is, I can't see much she has been done with in fandom besides SPIN SPIN SPIN. Nonetheless, I love the theme, very catchy and it does sound a bit dark as I'm sure ZUN was trying to enforce.

Next up we have another tie, from Subterranean Animism...

The Bridge People No Longer Cross

The beginning of this song reminds me of some sort of cave-theme in some game...I can't quite recall which though. Final Fantasy? Hm, but the main tune/melody is really nice too. I actually didn't like this song when I first heard it, which is quite silly, but after going through it again to make this list, it actually sounded quite nice, so I dunno what my ears were doing at that point. This song too echos a bit of darkness like Dark Road. After all, Chireiden is a pretty dark game, well compared to the lighter games in the series it truly is. You have a dark road in the previous song, and here you're underground crossing an almost-abandoned bridge...yet the tune itself is actually nice. Huh. The cave-feel though fits perfectly.

After that we have our first boss two theme, coming from an older game that is PCB...
Diao ye zong (Withered Leaf)

I had no respect for this song before. As in I didn't hear it very often until I went through some Touhou commentary and the man in that video with the sexiest voice alive declared that this song was utterly amazing. I don't know if it was the song or the voice, perhaps both, but I agreed! I was always under the impression that Chen's song was a remix of Ran's like Yukari (or the other way around I dunno, but I don't like that they share melodies) so I never really actually went out to listen to this song, but now that I have it is definitely very good. The tune very catchy, and very happy like, similar to CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!

We return to SA and Parsee herself with...

Green-Eyed Jealousy

Simply a classic. This song is definitely on the majority of Touhou fans' favourite lists, or at least on mine. I mean, you can't really pinpoint a song in Touhou that gives you a tale of sadness (maybe Border of Life) but this one does. The theme is simply beautiful, and one of my early favourites because this is one of the songs you first hear when you start getting into Touhou. It is that popular, and so of course makes my list. Parsee hits my list twice with both her boss theme and stage theme, only one other character does that. This is similar to Nazrin's theme in that you don't expect such a song so early in the game like Parsee's because like the first boss the second boss is also often not-related to the plot, so the song isn't as important-sounding as it should be. I am jealous. P:

Finally hit stage three of IN with...

Nostalgic Blood of the East ~ Old World

I am with Aoi-dono that this song is great. I am also with Aoi-dono that it is far superior to Keine's boss theme, which I found lackluster (which is a TRUE rarity in my opinion of Touhou music overall) but this one has a great melody that definitely gives you a nostalgic feeling, or that's what ZUN's description of the song wants me to feel, at least. Well I DO like the song, so that's good enough, right? Some of my favourite remixes also stems from this song. This is also not the first stage-theme of Keine's that will pop up in this list, so she almost makes one of those repeat appearances, kind of.

We still remain in stage three with the best song in all of Touhou, considered by many as we return to MoF with...

The Gensokyo the Gods Loved

Many people have commented that this song should be the theme of Gensokyo itself, if not Touhou. I agree too. ZUN's intentions with the song from his description also rings true, that he wanted this to be the theme of Gensokyo as you travel into Youkai Mountain. If this is the theme you hear as you're abducted by Yukari and thrown into the dangerous world of Gensokyo to be ravaged by cannibalistic youkai like Rumia, I wouldn't mind! It is of no coincidence that this song is number 8 in the music popularity polls if my memory is correct. This was used in a pretty awesome PV too as, again, the theme for Gensokyo. Majestic and beautiful, I love it.

We finally GET to boss three by sticking by PCB with...

Doll Judgment

This was one of my sleeper picks. I actually like Alice's stage theme more than this (but those two stage three themes above were superior). The thing is the rest of the boss three themes weren't to my liking at least to the point where they reach my favourites. Meiling's stage three theme was better (there appears to be a pattern here...) as was Keine's, as was Nitori's (though I do like her's quite a bit, it doesn't make it into this list) as was Yuugi's, as was Ichirin's...actually the last two I just do not care for their themes too much. They aren't bad, so I suppose I'd have to go with the song EVERY TOUHOU FAN WILL RECOGNIZE, even the ones that aren't Touhou fans. Seen Marisa Stole the Precious Thing? Then this theme is very familiar to you. I have to admit though, it IS a good song. I always remember the engrish from that video here. ...WHY WHY WHY WHY DON'T I MISS YOU A LOT FOREVEEEER~!?

We remain in PCB with...

The Capital City of Flowers in the Sky

Here we have a song I believe is underrated. I like A LOT of stage 4 themes though, but alas I only chose two for this list. (Heartfelt Fancy I still love you! You too, Interdimensional Voyage for the WHY IS THIS TITLE SO LONG) The boss theme for this stage, Phantom Ensemble is more well-known which I love too, but something about this theme is really nice. The melody? The fact that it was used in a pretty cool PV that I don't remember anymore? That TAMUSIC's rendition of it is beautiful? I don't know, but I do like this song. Lily White may not have popularity, but she is awesome in my book with this theme. IT IS ALSO SPRING AND THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS ARE PRETTY.

We continue and return to MoF once again with...

Fall of Fall, Autumnal Waterfall

From spring to fall!? O: Hmm, something about Momiji makes me like her. Besides the fact that she is a dog (tengu) and that she looks like she's canadian, but this theme is really nice too. I love the flute (that is a flute right? Some sort of wind instrument. I AM MUSICALLY RETARDED :D) which we don't hear too often in Touhou songs. I personally love flutes. ZUN's usually for trumpets (which we'll find out next) Man I love so many songs in MoF but I think the theme of the game itself allowed such pretty songs. After all, in SA the atmosphere was dark, so we had a lot of creepier metal-like power-ish songs which were pretty good too, but I was captured by the beauty of MoF including its background, story, and of course, music.

This is technically supposed to be a stage four theme, but because PoFV fits nowhere in this scheme of song organization, I stuck this one here, which we have with...

Wind God Girl

I love Youkai Mountain, but if it's Aya themes...Wind God Girl takes the cake. Here we have the trumpet I was talking about, a staple in ZUN music. This is also a theme many people consider to be their favourites, and I agree. The catchiness, the greatness, the magnificence you feel when that trumpet starts blaring that theme that gets stuck in your head. Honestly when I first heard this song because people kept citing Wind God Girl as their favourites due to its catchy tune, I thought "what a load of bullcrap" because when I first heard it it didn't sound that great to my ears. ONCE AGAIN I do not know what was wrong with me at that point, but this is certainly up there in my favourites. You could hum this all day long.

Back to SA for an actual stage four boss theme, we have...

Satori Maiden ~ 3rd Eye

All this MoF and its majestic music, we gotta have some darker sadder themes once in a while, or "evil" as this theme was called. This song actually reminds me of Septette for the Dead Princess, in that it has three parts, all catchy. I prefer themes like this. That means it is of higher quality. It reminds me of those poorly-budgeted games or shows that just replays its theme song over and over again. THOSE ARE SO ANNOYING. I AM LOOKING AT YOU MAGIC SCHOOL BUS! Though I should not be ranting about that on Satori's theme. Yes, I love this theme, it fits her very well and it's one of the top themes for a reason. I wish it was still 2008 and I somehow made it to Satori in the game (bah, if I can't even get past Kogasa on easy modo there is no hope for me) I would just die constantly listening to this song, and then remember I need to survive a bit to continue listening to it. @_@

We hit stage five with this theme from IN...

Cinderella Cage ~ Kagome-Kagome

So apparently Kagome-Kagome is a children's game in Japan similar to Ring-Around-a-Rosie for us children in the west with its same dark and sinister origins. Nonetheless, I like both themes in this song, that of Kagome Kagome and the main tune. The biggest reason this is on this list though, is because of Eientewi, the vocal remix. I sing that song CONSTANTLY. So catchy to sing, so FUN to sing, so EASY to sing! Only a few songs hit notion! I sing this song with incredible emotion because it truly is a fun song to sing. If I sing a song that much then yes, it definitely fits on this list.

Another stage five theme and another dark one from SA...

Lullaby of a Deserted Hell

Man, that intro was creepy, wasn't it? It makes me think I'm in a desert...or maybe the title does that, haha. SA songs are always like this, evil, creepy, or simply badass. There's a reason I largely considered the best music to reign from Chireiden (until I realized how awesome MoF was, that is) but the tune itself? Oh man that is catchy. I could say that for really any Touhou song, but man. Of course Orin herself is known to mess people up in this stage for she is considered one of the most difficult bosses in all of Touhou, especially in the fact that she is in stage five and not a final nor even an extra boss. People don't get waken up during her actual boss fight though, but here in the stage. So this song is playing and BAM YOU DIE! How does that feel indeed, repeatedly returning to this stage with that creepy intro only to die...deserted, in the former hell...

Let's go back to MoF...

Faith is for the Transient People

I thought about all the stage five boss songs. Sakuya's was repetitive. Youmu's was repetitive. Reisen's was repetitive. Orin's was repetitive. Shou's was repetitive. Uh. I DO like those songs they were just a tad bit repetitive to me, and so I went with Sanae's which was slightly less.
No I kid, I truly do love Sanae's theme. Well I don't know how to explain it, but it sounds right to me. One of my favourite remixes comes from this song as well, even if it too sounds slightly repetitive but WHATEVER. This one was better than Sakuya's, than Youmu's, than Reisen's, than Orin's, and yes even Shou's! So that is why it is on this list. Not so much a sleeper pick like Alice's, but it is hard to explain for me. It sounds nice. The melody is good. IT COMES FROM MoF. Good enough I say! Good enough.

UFO finally returns with...

Fires of Hokkai

Heartbeat...heartbeat...heartbeat...heartbeat...what sounds like WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU...heartbeat...heartbeat...tune...tune. Whoa. This song actually sounded unorthodox compared to other ZUN music, but I loved it for some reason. It does have some pretty awesome remixes too, but then I thought of the other stage six songs and I found that none of them were, to me, as unique as this one. This song actually tried to make the boss' coming to be something absolutely amazing, absolutely spectacular, and absolutely breathtaking by bringing your blood pressure up, making you excited. THIS SHIP THAT I AM LOOTING EXPLORING, WHAT ARE THE PEOPLE HERE FOR!?

Well, it's for this...

Emotional Skyscraper ~ Cosmic Mind

My number one rated song. I wonder if I will still have it here because man, do I listen to it WAY too much. In reality, ALL the stage six boss songs are amazing and are better than half this list, but I love this song that much that I refuse to have ties with it, and so only Emotional Skyscraper is here. No Septette (which is amazing), no Border of Life (equally as amazing), no Voyage (still amazing), no Lunatic (continuing the amazingness), no Ancient Battlefield (bloody amazing), no Nuclear Fusion (awesomely amazing) but only this here, Emotional Skyscraper. My favourite remix also comes from this song. My favourite EWI uses this song. I think half the reason I love UFO that much is this bloody song RIGHT HERE. I can praise this forever but we certainly need to move on, nothing wrong with sitting here and enjoying it though. If this is propaganda, it's doing it RIGHT! (And Byakuren joins Parsee in showing up on this list twice!)

EoSD finally makes its debut in my list with...

Centennial Festival for Magical Girls

Oh EoSD, I do love your music but it just didn't make the list...until now. Until today, too! I just added this. I think UN Owen is so crazy popular everyone sadly overlooks what I believe is one of if not the most underrated songs in Touhou. Not just because its next to UN Owen but for a song in EoSD of all games which most people choose as their favourite it really isn't given the light of day. Of course it is of my opinion that, like stage six boss themes, ALL EXTRA STAGE THEMES ARE BRILLIANT. Even the ones that didn't make this list! So I especially enjoy the few remixes this song has. I hope it gets more, but inevitably next con there will be like ten more UN Owen remixes and this song will be LUCKY if it even gets one.

IN returns again with...

Extend Ash ~ Hourai Victim

Hello EX-Keine! Like I said before she is KIND of Parsee and Byakuren in terms of appearing again, though I personally consider this more of Mokou's stage theme than Keine's third theme. (That's too many themes Keine! I don't care if you can manipulate history, you can't have three themes. D<) This is similar to Kagome, Kagome...FIRE FLOWER, which combines this with Immortal Smoke into a pretty catchy rock-like vocal remix has the verses with this theme. Those are my favourite parts to sing, not the Immortal Smoke parts. (Even though I DO love Immortal Smoke, it's a tad bit repetitive. P:) Also one of my favourite pseudo-sad remixes is also off this theme, so I have many many reasons for liking this. :D

A three-way tie as SA also comes back with...

Last Remote

I always wonder why this song is called Last Remote. Does this song come into your head when you're fighting with your sibling for the last remote to change the channel? Does Koishi fight with Satori for the remote? I think it means something else, lol. I actually first heard this song in a remix on an AWFUL AWFUL PV. Which had some nice design and decent animation but the plot was just cheap yuri fantasy with naked girls and fanservice and WHY DEFILE SUCH AN AWESOME SONG and EPIC REMIX with that!? D: Nonetheless, the remix was a more of an "evil" remix, if you will (apparently all SA songs are EEEEVILLLLLLL~) but I find it quite a pleasant song. Again with the Keine thing, NO SANAE THIS IS NOT YOUR THEME IT IS KOISHI'S FUCK YOU.

We finally hit the extra boss themes and ONCE AGAIN MoF IS HERE...

Native Faith

Kero kero kero kero~! If I could EVERY SONG from MoF would be here, but that wouldn't be fair. So we have Native Faith which has this crazy-ass piano going off like a hyper frog bouncing around from pad to pad until an unsuspecting fairy comes to freeze it. I first heard this song in the infamous video, Kero Destiny and that is unbelievably catchy oh my god. Of course this is one of my early favourites and still is to this day with that, that PIANO. I wonder how fast your fingers have to be to even play this song man. If I ever reach extra stage in MoF which will probably never happen until that stupid umbrella can be defeated, I would enjoy this stage so much. That song just brings adrenaline. That piano player MUST be on some sort of drug if not adrenaline to even play this. This is why I used this song for my hyper hamsters is that video of mine, nothing else would've fit, but it certainly fits Suwako!

Our last extra boss theme comes from UFO...

Heian Alien

This song is just like Nue itself for me. I hated it at first, like Nue. Then I grew to like it more, like Nue, and now I absolutely love it. I don't know how as the song itself really isn't a style I even enjoy, and yet...Nonetheless, many good remixes also come from this song. (I think it's the most remixed song of UFO) including that one-pop song that I love to sing that sounds BARELY like this song at all, so amazing things can be made from this song even if it's barely like it, ha! I think that makes sense though, Nue is after all a shapeshifter, and many people commented to my chagrin that it sounded like <insert previous Touhou song here> and considered it a ripoff, most commonly with UN Owen. I too thought that when I hated it, but now I love it to pieces. The fact that it might sound like other songs and can be turned into such vastly different remixes means that yes, it is a perfect fit for the character of Nue. Good job.

Ending theme we go, with more PCB...

Dream of a Spring Breeze

Ending themes aren't the biggest thing to me, I had to listen to a lot of Touhou songs for the first time for these. I ended up liking the one in PCB the best. Perhaps the reason I don't hear them much is that the games are so hard rarely do people get to the ending? Lol I kid, but I will probably not hear this anytime soon in an actual game.

The credits theme and we return to UNL...

Eternal Steam Engine

Wow, this theme is so pretty. It begins so...like you actually did something in this game and this ending theme rewards you, gives this feeling that yes, you won, you've accomplished something, and now it is over. I love this song, one of my favourite songs. It is foreign to Touhou because I don't think I've heard bagpipes in Touhou songs before, lol. It also continues with the lovely steam theme, and so this list begins with the brilliant title theme of UNL and ends with UNL. I should be calling it Hisoutensoku, but I love this theme, definitely one of my top five.

So we end with these themes, and there are several, several, SEVERAL amazing songs I've missed because though I may enjoy some songs over another, I really do love listening to every single one of them. I very much recommend finding more of these songs to hear, and listening to the endless amount of remixes. SO AMAZING. As I said before, I am musically retarded. I had little to no interest in music before Touhou. I did have favourite songs yes, but I never bought albums or followed bands, I'd just listen to them if they happened to be on, like on TV or the radio or whatever, or a theme song of something I'm watching. It is not until Touhou have my ears truly found the magnificence of music, and yes I know in terms of music there is much more out there than just Touhou, but this is the first franchise that has led me to truly love and appreciate the tunes I hear everyday. Truly magnificent.

This has been Spotto, over and out.

Digimon Tamers 2...and 3...and 4

Takatomon! Hahaha.

Damn, I like this lead already. I don't think I've seen anything with a lead like this. Terriermon! I saw it in one of the movies :3 Lopmon is evil a lot isn't he....it....uh.

... I sure wrote a lot for episode. I'll combine it with three then. Uhm, Ruki is mean? I don't like her bangs...they look strange. MOUMANTAI sounds Chinese....badly attempted Chinese. Then again, Terriermon's partner is...apparently Chinese? I forget his name, lol. He just said his name. Lee Jenrya. First name Jenrya?

...But not TOO foreign, O: He's half Japanese. Oh of course, "No problem."
Ah yes, the ol' FRIENDSHIP IS STUPID ploy....well not that old considering when Tamers came out.

GOOD JOB TAKATO. You lost Guilmon again. On the bright side his goggles never looked better. Galgomon likes destroying cars. Cool.
WHOA scratch marks on face. I said 'ow' out loud.
And I think I should not be drinking while writing up reviews.

Then Guilmon attacked Galgomon...and uh. The episode is over! I'll watch the fourth one then too. The running during OPs is overdone...but considering when Tamers was released. I love the animation during evolution by-the-way, the quality here looks better than previous seasons. I heard it was a different..."writer" of sorts for Tamers than the previous two...unless they all have different writers. I don't know, lol.

WHY IS TAKATO'S BATH WATER GREEN?

Those weird people with things covering their eyes feel like cleverly disguised stock footage. :D "THIS EPISODE ISN'T TWENTY-THREE MINUTES!" Add random mysterious bad guy scenes then! Success!

Look! KingKongmon Realized! I mean...Gorimon. Why does this scene remind me of that movie with the American that also owned a Terriermon? Okay now it feels like a less severe version of Ken thinking Digimon is a game. (Except in this case it was originally a game but then somehow came out or maybe wasn't a game or...I AM CONFUSED.)

"It's a video game! I'm going to announce every move I make to no one in particular! I'll even announce that I'm slashing my cards through this reader thing. No one will see me as crazy or anything, even if I do have a bunny-dog thing that laughs while shooting machine bullets!!!"

Galgomon seems to go crazy so that's why he stays a rookie. I see...

So far the plot seems to be one person on one end of the spectrum (Ruki) and one on the other (Lee) and Takato's like the newbie wondering "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON...." in a less...rude way, :D. We shall see what's happening....after I wake up from bed. Nighto.

Digimon Tamers

Well the past few weeks I watched Digimon Frontier, Adventure, and 02 in that order + five Digimon movies. :D;

But Tamers is a season I have never watched before (besides the rare episode) so I figure a great thing to do is type up some sort of log as I watch. I've already finished the first episode, and for my first impressions? Takato killed a mouse, and yet I find him rather cute haha. I usually am negative against this series despite not watching a lot of episodes, but from what I saw in the dub originally all those years ago I really wasn't that into it. It should be very different with subs. I also watched an original Digimon Movie, the X-Evolution one. I found it pretty good, maybe better than the other movies (except War Game because Koushiro was adorable/awesome/hilarious) but the story, the fact that it had Silphymon (I like this Digimon a lot) and a lot of really awesome Digimon really appealed to me. Though ultimate (mega) Digimon seem very knight/robot/transformers-like I've noticed. It seems to be the trend nowadays to just make EVERY powerful Digimon like so. Back then it only a select few looked like this...no wonder they're called the Royal Knights...but so many other Digimon are like this too...

As for the first episode, I did not expect such a high voice for Takato. At least it's higher than Daisuke, Taichi, and Takuya's. I'm wondering if I do get through this season if I should watch Savers, but I'm not particularly sure. They reused Agumon, changed his design, threw away the goggles, and made everyone grow up; they also gave the only important female really really stereotypically-female-ish Digimon so... (all flowery and stuff. Even Mimi had a kickass boxing cactus before a flower Digimon and Izumi became a ninja...so...)

Anyway, the fact that I have NO IDEA what happens besides Leomon dying again, it being a very dark series, and something called the D-Reaper...this will be very interesting to go through. Until episode two! Which is...right after this post!

Axis Powers Hetalia, aru

A breakthrough in the history of fandom.
Literally.

Speaking from a giddy fangirl's viewpoint, Axis Powers Hetalia is something pretty much every Yaoi fangirl will love. TV-Tropes seems to heavily imply that all the gayness in this manga was actually intended. Sometimes I wonder if it really is intentional or all those jokes are just in there for the humour. I much prefer subtle messages rather than a blown out message, which is why I rarely go for canon couples in the media. There's no flexibility in that.

Anyway, I don't want to write this review of this webcomic from a giddy fangirl's viewpoint. That would be too biased and you could get that exact view from pretty much 90% of the APH fanbase. Though there is no guarantee that view won't be squeaking in a few times, I like to think of all these happy happy HAPPY messages the mangaka, Hidekaz Himaruya, is sending as a big fat bonus to spoil all the girls out there, and then some.

The obvious beauty of APH is the history. I think the most successful series that find the attention of people in the world are the ones that are educational, but actually make the person watching/reading/looking at it WANT to learn. Does a grown adult want to sit down in front of the TV and listen to some monotone voice say: "Then Julius Caesar got stabbed many times by his very own friends. Boohoohoo." -insert random ancient depictions of such here-? Perhaps some history majors and professors and those REALLY HARDCORE with History, but not the average person. I took a History course before finding out about this fandom, and I wish I found out earlier because History was the most boring class ever. It didn't help that it was my only morning class and was three and a half hours long, but still. There was PRUSSIA and the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE and FRANCE and ENGLAND and AUSTRIA. Seriously, if I knew that invasions were basically to SEIZE A NATION'S VITAL REGIONS, that class would not only NOT be boring, but quite entertaining in an extremely immature way.

But it's not just the immature stuff that would make history interesting. Sure, it'll play a big part especially if you're one of the many giddy fangirls, but the anthormorphization of countries is a brilliant idea. Not a UNIQUE one, but brilliant nonetheless. In every story there are characters, and if the story is strong, then the characters will probably be very attachable. Turning a country into a character makes it much more easier to understand a countries woes it had gone through before and today. There's many things I'm much more aware of, and I'm sure many other fans of APH are of the world than before because I can identify with the countries more. They are no longer an anonymous faceless mass of people now, so you can see the contempt this countries are in.

Example? My own country. Hard to believe yes, but I was not a very patriotic girl of the Chinese nation. After all, my parents fled the country to Canada, so it was hard to view the country as some great place that you originated in. Obviously it didn't help that schools think Asian history doesn't exist, and throw European and North American history in your face. That's understandable where the country comes from, the UK, but still you're left sitting there wondering about the East where the sun rises, and wondering whatever happened there. All you get are these dramas your parents watch on TV. One particular one I remember was about a loving couple, and the male had to go enlist on the Sino-Japanese War (don't ask me which one, I don't remember). Obviously the point of the story was the romance, and the distress felt when wondering if your loved one was okay and still alive, but there was the hint of history in it.

That was a long time ago though. I remember growing into teenagehood, and I was hit by that...Japanese phase. Some girls end up watching someone like Miley Cyrus on TV, start dressing like her and putting makeup and blowing five thousand dollars in the mall, but me? Well I went the nerdy way and watched lots of Animes. Actually that's a lie, I probably only watched like five in my life, but I really liked those five. I didn't go overboard like a friend of mine did though, but I was moderately there with the Japanese, causing me to grow a bias. I even remember once answering to my father, who asked me which country I liked better, China or Japan. I said Japan. I don't think he liked that very much.

Well, if he asked me today I would say China.

One little doodle-ish comic changed that, called "The Story of China and Teensy Japan" (something like that >_>). That incredibly congested summary of the relationship between the two countries eventually caused me to read up on a lot of history books in the library. I think the most mindblowing one I read was about the Rape of Nanking. (especially since there was a PHOTO album of that. I saw lots of dead mutilated bodies of Chinese people in that book. Would you like to see some pictures of that? I guarantee it'll hit you hard.) I continued reading other books of other countries as well. The relationship between WWII Germany, Russia, and Poland. Russia and the Baltic States. Russia and China. The ones that were interesting were relationships with Japan though, especially other Asians and Japan. The Japanese were by far the most cold, heartless soldiers of them all, and the other asians that suffered from them were by far the worst hit. Most people just think of the Holocaust and the Germans and Jews then, and they suffered greatly, yes, but damn, when I see those pictures of the Rape of Nanking. When I think of the term "Comfort Women"...well.

Perhaps I need to read more about the other countries before determining this and that, but still. Axis Powers Hetalia is deep. Not because of the actual comic canon, but because of the world canon. You can use your imagination to stretch how the events of history took place as you like, and realize how the countries suffered. If a country went into mass starvation...imagine a chibi England lying in the middle of the streets, half-naked, bones baring, and he is crying, but barely audible. He wants food, but can only speak a squeak. Other countries walking by do not help, they're busy with their own problems, but when you see that child lying there and you know his personality and his backstory...you know he does not deserve that. A being you can empathsize with is one who you know. Look at the commercials on TV that ask for your donation. You see a young child suffering, but while some part of you feels sorry, how many actually call in and donate? I don't think a great number do. Why? Because you do not know who that child is, and what he is like. I'm sure if it was a friend's child you'd donate, but this is just some kid in some country.

So in fiction, where you can know a character without needing to meet them yourselves, you can understand that pain, can feel it. If England was a child in real life on a TV commercial, crying for your help, I bet you would want to donate because you know what he's like. That's just it. That's the main attraction of this fandom. No country is portrayed as 'an evil hated character'. None whatsoever. They are all lovable in their own ways, so you can understand. Why is Russia so heartless? Well, take a long at all the comics, fanart, fanfics, videos of his history, and the bloodshed, everything, and you will suddenly forget that he was heartless in the first place.

And that's what I truly believe is the main ingredient of Hetalia. Not so much the Yaoi or pretty boys or History or what, but the fact that you can now symphasize with each character, each country. This sounds cheesy but that makes it kind of like a step towards the direction of World Peace. Now if only Korea had that same viewpoint. :P I'm not saying I hate Japan now or anything either, but my eye is no longer blind for that country. Now the first place I want to visit is not Japan, but China. Now I have even more patriotism for my own country too, Canada, but now I respect every other country more, EVEN AMERICA. Now I know what Latvia is and can locate it on a World Map, and now I understand the tension some countries have for others. That random country you never heard of walking out into the stadium in the Olympics? Well now I have heard of them, and maybe I'll even secretly cheer for them too.

I'm also going to cry now because Korea lost to Japan in the World Baseball Classic. DAMNIT JAPAN YOU WON LAST TIME. Let insecure unloved Korea win! *chompchompchomp* D<