This game, by AnnkakeSpa, was released the previous Comiket 81. Featuring Konpaku Youmu as our main character, this game is a hack and slash game where you make your way through fairies and a few Touhou characters. It’s quite a short fun game, doesn’t take long to clear.

Story

Gardener of Hakugyokurou, Konpaku Youmu, is troubled.
The master she is working under, Saigyouji Yuyuko, hasn’t attended her sword training for days.
Youmu is Yuyuko’s sword instructor.
Yuyuko was never too thrilled about sword training, however, she hasn’t declined this strongly before.
Although Youmu points this out to her, Yuyuko becomes evasive. In the end, Yuyuko gave Youmu one condition:

“Defeat Hakurei Reimu, then will I think about training.”

If Youmu were to challenge Reimu to a head-on fight as she is now, she would not be able to win.
Lady Yuyuko requested such an unreasonable demand, she simply wants to skip practice doesn’t she?
That was the conclusion Youmu came to, she can’t come up with any other ideas.
Can I really defeat Reimu? With new worries, Youmu leaves Hakugyokurou.

The game is simple to play. You control Youmu in a 3D environment as you make your way through the stages. She has an attack, jump, special, and Spell Card button. Missing is a block button, which would have made it a bit easier to fend of strong attacks. However, Youmu’s sword slash can cut through most bullets, so it can be used defensively.

Also, you can use the special button as a defense method. Switching to the green icon (bottom left side of screen), you can use a bomb which takes cares of weak faeries and bullets. I choose to play aggressively and almost always used the orange icon, which made a dashing slash towards the enemy.

The times you can use the special attacks are show with those orange balls above Youmu’s green life bar. You start with three, but you find pieces inside of orange vases through the stages. Three pieces equals one new orange ball.

The blue icon, if you’re wondering, shoots a slash beam towards the enemy. Meant to be used as a long distance attack.

What I found a bit frustrating, was the platforming. The majority of my deaths were because I kept falling off while trying to jump from platform to platform. I don’t think it’s the game’s fault though. It’s my gamepad’s fault. Seems the jump button (think square button on PS3 controller) is a bit worn out. I use it as my shoot button in every other Touhou game so it’s usually held down, which gets it stuck in that position when is pressed down it seems. lol

Although the platforming was a bit frustrating, it was well done.

Dying is very forgiving in this game. You can die as much as you want and continue from a checkpoint as much as you want. The only repercussion is that you lose some of your score points. I wasn’t playing for score, so I didn’t care much about it.

Also, you can quit the game and continue from your last checkpoint. That makes the game easier, not having to start from the very beginning. The difficulty lies with the stage bosses though.

Spell cards were integrated very well in the 3D environment. Dodging them takes some quick timing and good jumping skills. You can try to slash your way out of them, but you’ll get hit too many times and die very quickly. And the damage they do is huge (compared to other damage), especially cards which trap you or corner you, like Marisa’s up there.

The bosses use their spell card when their health is dropped to a certain level, once activated, you can’t hurt them (maybe you can, I didn’t try as I was too busy avoiding getting hit! lol) so you have to wait it out.

But bosses aren’t the only ones with spell cards, Youmu also has one!

This is my favorite screenshot, I love that illustration of Youmu~

You can’t use the spell card whenever you want, you have to fill the small bar next to the special icons all the way up. Once it’s filled, you can use your spell card and deal massive damage. It’s best to save it for the bosses and cut their life bar down. I like to use it as a finishing move though, looks so much cooler~!

Filling the bar is easy, all you gotta do is hack and slash at your enemies, then before you know it, it will be filled up.

Like I said before, the game isn’t very long. You will probably clear this in one sitting, but it’s very fun and a quick way to spend some time you may have.

Give it a try!

Coming this Comiket 81, Morino Hon will be releasing the final entry in the Omoito series. It seems the fourth installment will be very long with a whopping 90 pages for Omoito alone (plus 30 pages for the extra N2FC comic). I really can’t wait to see how this will end. So excited!!

Here’s a little teaser to keep us excited while we wait: CLICK ME.

I guess this pretty much explain what the title means. “Omoito” seems to be a combination of “omoi” (feelings/emotions) and “ito” (thread). I first translated it as “Main Thread”, so I’m a bit far off. lol

Haniwa's Store - Gossip at the Temporary Hakurei Shrine

One night, a child came to visit the Hakurei Shrine in hopes of getting help from the Youkai Exterminating Shrine Maiden of Hakurei. However, this child…is a spitting image of Yukari!! Is Yukari up to something again!? And what is it she needs help with?

Download Here.

Haniwa's Store - Old Tales at the Moriya Shrine

Haniwa's Store - The Hakurei Shrine VS Youkai & Human

Old Tales at the Moriya Shrine
While the cat is away, the mouse will play! Left to look over the Moriya Shrine,Yuugi and Suika start drinking and Suika reminisces about how she first began wearing the Shrine Maiden clothing of the Hakurei Shrine. But of course, being who they are, they eventually start to play, will the Moriya Shrine be alright?

–Download

The Hakurei Shrine VS Youkai & Human
Not satisfied by the way Suika rebuilt the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu insists on having it return back to normal. But in order to do that, they must first demolish the shrine. But who knew the Shrine would be so sturdy? Taking this as a challenge, a few youkai gather to destroy the pride and joy of Nitori, the highly customized Hakurei Shrine! Let the battle begin!

–Download

Take a peek in Marisa’s diary and read about the time she first moved into Gensokyo’s Forest of Magic. What awaits her in that dangerous forest? Will her first night end peacefully?

Download link.

I think this is one of the first doujinshi I translated, and just recently it got edited and finished. lol

Hell is in a dire economic situation. In order to stabilize it, a new plan suggested by a great youkai is unleashed into Gensokyo. This plan will surely be accepted by the denizens of Gensokyo, hell is riding on this plan’s success.

After the plan is enacted, the game know as Liar Game begins! Round One starts! Who will reign victorious in this game of “Liar Tag”!?

Download Gensou Liar Game I
Download Gensou Liar Game II

When I first started reading this, I was pretty excited about its plot and story. I thought it was pretty original…until someone told me it was based on a manga, Liar Game…well, there goes its originality. -_-

I haven’t read Liar Game so I dunno if this doujinshi is following its plot or not, so seeing how it unfolds is pretty exciting to read. Though I’m sure the manga isn’t like this doujinshi, I mean, there’s magic and such…though I’m sure the characters are as lying, deceiving, and maniacal as the characters here…like Patchouli. Man, she was specially wicked here!

Can’t wait to read more of this, I just need to find the scans so I can translate them…

⑨⑨⑨x⑨⑨⑨

Happy Cirno day!! September 09, the strongest day of the year!

I’ll celebrate by playing Touhou 12.8 Yousei Daisensou ~ Touhou Sangetsusei. lol

Here is a short alternate story with Mokou X Keine in high school.

Oops, was supposed to add this along with the Inarekiezoka post. ;;

Download here.

Keine’s lesson for today is about counting objects. Mokou visits Keine at her school to bring her something she forgot and was invited to join the lesson. This got Mokou thinking of numbers and years she’s been alive…and for how long she can remember her experiences…

Here we are again with another Doujinshi by VIVIT GRAY featuring, you guessed it, Mokou X Keine! I’m not sure what the title should translate to though. Translating this was a bit of a challenge as I still don’t know much about Japanese counters…and translating them to English was even harder. So I was checking the web on and off.

I wasn’t sure what would be better, to do an English translation which is far from the original Japanese script, or a direct translation which keeps the Japanese counters as is, for example 冊 (volume) would be simply “satsu”. I did two versions of the translation, one with the Japanese counters translated to English (using collective nouns) as close as I could…and the other a direct translation of the counters and left it for the editor to decide which to keep.

The editor opted with the latter. This was done and ready for download a long time ago, but I was buys with Touhou 13 and other stuff to make a post…but you may have already downloaded it if you’re subscribed to Gensokyo. lol

To download click the image up there.

The first time I cleared Touhou 13, I found it to be a lot easier than the previous installments. But looking at the replay, I noticed that I wasn’t playing the game at full frame rate. It seems the frame rate dropped to half (30fps) in the two final stages. This meant the spell cards where a lot easier because the bullets where moving at half their speed, making it easier to dodge.

I didn’t want this type of victory so I messed around with the custom.exe (the game’s settings) until I was able to make the game run at full frame rate. I challenged the game again, and it wasn’t as easy as my first tries. But a few tries later and I managed to clear the game with all characters and without the slowdowns. This is the victory I wanted.

But still, the game was easier than previous games…

And now let’s take a look at the spellcards. (Names taken from Touhouwiki.net)

Stage 01

Symbol "Dance of the Dead Butterflies"

The first few spellcards aren’t as interesting or challenging as the ones in later stages. Being stage one, this one is easy to capture, just slowly move right or left and you’ll get it in no time.

Ghostly Butterfly "Ghost Spot"

This ones give you a lot of room to move in, so it really doesn’t matter where the bullet’s are heading, there’s enough room to dodge and even play around a bit.

Nether Sign "Endless Evening Cherry Blossoms"

In the first two stages or so, I like to go up to the boss and shoot at point blank. That’s how easy it is to dodge some of their attacks. Just fly up there and slowly move left or right. The big round blue bullets won’t get near you, but those small ones will, but they’re easy to avoid.

Being stage one cards, they aren’t much of a challenge. Yuyuko, being a Stage 06 boss, gave me lots of trouble in Touhou 07. Hell, the first time I almost cleared the game I thought I had beaten her when she resurrected and killed me! D: But this time around, she’s a joke.

Stage 02

Echo Sign "Mountain Echo"

New character. I introduced her back in the demo post. Capturing this spellcard is also easy, run up to her and shoot at point blank, don’t mind her she doesn’t move so you just have to worry about the red bullets coming from the sides and above. But just like Yuyuko, those bullets are quite easy to avoid.

Echo Sign "Power Resonance"

With this spellcard, you can’t fly up to her and be close to her. So I have to stay in the bottom of the screen. It’s not hard to dodge these bullets, but because they bounce around inside the border, it can get a bit confusing. Not only because they stop bouncing unexpectedly, but because the bullet changes shape. A little tricky but easy to avoid.

Mountain Echo "Long-Range Echo"

You can run up to her on this one, but since she moves, it’s best not to get too close and get killed by a body slam. lol Also, don’t try to follow her to the side of the screen as those red bullets will come out at you unexpectedly. But since the bullet gap is quite big, I can manage to stay up close while dodging those bullets.

I tried this card in hard mode, and boy is it more challenging and fun. No way in hell would I be able to stay so close to her has I can in Normal mode.

Great Voice "Charged Cry"

This spellcard is pretty much the same thing as Echo Sign “Power Resonance”, but the border is circular rather than a square. This one managed to trick me a few times. I stay at the very bottom of the screen and dodge the bullets that come to me by moving left, but because I got too far from the boss and wasn’t hitting her with my shooting, I tried to move back to my original position by moving up a bit, letting a bullet go under me, and going back left. But that movement made me go inside the border and the bullet which I let go under me bounced back up and killed me. Twice.

Now I just stay at the very bottom while moving left or right and not moving up a single bit. lol

Stage 03

Recovery "Heal By Desire"

Another new character, a zombie this time! Introduced in the demo along with Kyouko.

I mentioned in the demo post that this spellcard was one from the first three stages I couldn’t capture. That was because of Yoshika’s ability. She can eat spirits and regain her health. So when I shot down those orbs shooting bullets on her sides she regained her health an I had no choice but to timeout. :/

So I tried my strategy of shooting point blank so my bullets would miss the orbs, and it worked. As the bullets shots from the orb got closer to me, I slowly move downwards avoiding then, and once I reached the bottom, I moved left or right in an attempt stay in the center and take her health away. The last part gets a bit hard, but I managed to capture the card!

Poison Nail "Poison Raze"

Pretty easy, just stay at the bottom and avoid those little arrows. Really, not much to this. :/

Desire Sign "Saved Up Desire Spirit Invitation"

This spellcard is also quite hard to capture for the same reason as Recovery “Heal by Desire”, she will regenerate her health by eating the spirits and you may timeout. But because the bosses take more damage the closer you are to them (I think lol) I try to dodge through the little arrows and get as close to her as I can while avoiding the laser. I do this a few times and capture the card.

But maybe she doesn’t regain as much health because when I draw in close, I manage to take in a few spirits…

It’s harder to capture this card with Sanae, I think she has a weaker shot so I really have no choice but to run up to Yoshika and try to take as many spirits as I can. Youmu on the other hand, can take her down quite easy. I focus move while dodging the arrows so when I’m up close to her, Youmu’s charge is complete and I unleash it.

That charge really packs a punch!

Stage 04

New Character:

Kaku Seiga

Stage 04 Boss – The Wicked Hermit Who Passes Through Walls

Kaku Seiga (Nickname: Seiga Nyan Nyan)

Species: Wicked Hermit
Ability: the power to pass through walls

Once, she was in awe of the Tao.

When Seiga was young, her father took a liking to the Tao and left her behind to shut himself up in the mountains. Finding herself interested in a book her father had left behind, she read through it over and over, and became attracted to the Tao. She was particularly interested in He Xiangu (Kasenko, one of the eight sages of Taoism), and swore she’d become a hermit one day, too, and meet her father.

As she grew older, she was able to marry into the Kaku family. She led a life without any restrictions on her freedom, but she was unable to throw away her aspirations towards Taoism, and she spent every day depressed. As a result, she practically became a shut-in, never conversing with anyone.

One day, after eight more years had passed, Seiga suddenly said her goodbyes. Her family thought it was odd, but Seiga passed every day asleep in her room, and she never opened her eyes again.

Surprised, a great sadness cast itself over her family, and they buried her utterly lifeless body.

However, she wasn’t dead. While she’d been shut away in her room, she used a technique she’d read about in her book to make a bamboo rod take the form of her own body, making her appear to be dead. That was what her family had buried.

She cast away her worldly life and ran. Yes, she ran to join the world of hermits she’d so yearned for.

―――What sort of journey did she experience after that? As a hermit, she’d gained a certain amount of power. She maintained her youthful appearance, becoming non-aging. For this reason she also did many things which made her feared by the public. However, the Heavens did not acknowledged her and she became a wicked hermit. She hadn’t hesitated to deceive her family in order to fulfill her goal. It seemed her personality wasn’t that good.

She had a tendency to show off her own power in order to spread Taoism. However, Taoists and hermits of her level weren’t that unusual in this country. So, she thought she’d move to another country, and headed out for a country in the east she’d never seen before: Japan.

At that time in Japan, Buddhism, which had just spread there from the continent, and Shinto, which placed its faith in Japan’s native gods, were locked in battle for supremacy.

Thinking this was the perfect chance, she caught the ear of Toyosatomimi no Miko, who was widely seen as a most virtuous person, and taught her of the charms of Taoism.

She suggested to the powerful ones that they use Buddhism in politics to keep the people from getting restless, while they used Taoism to attain superhuman strength for themselves.

Since Taoism was a nature-worshipping polytheistic creed, it fit well with the beliefs of Shinto, which held the powerful in Japan to be descendents of the gods. And since its ultimate goal was immortality, it was a compelling alternative for them to the more stoic Buddhism. A little while after she thought about it, Miko spoke to her former religious rival, the Mononobe clan, of this plan.

–Touhouwiki

Evil Sign "Yang Xiaogui"

You have to constantly stay on the move with this card. Those balls right there, they close in on you and if you stay still, they’ll get you. More pop out as time goes on, and Seiga then shoot those streaks of bullets.

It’s best to stay as close to Seiga as possible while avoiding the balls, it’s not hard, they move slower the closer they get to you. So when you see her preparing her streak of bullets, you can tell, move to the very bottom of the screen as fast as you can, then quickly move to the left or right into an empty gap of bullets. Those black bullets will follow you, but slowly move up and by the time they reach you, the blue curving streak of bullets will be gone and you can repeat the patter again ’till you capture the card.

BTW…are those black balls magnets?

Demonify "Zouhuo Rumo"

The cards start to get a bit challenging now.

I like this card. Seiga calls her puppet Yoshika and uses her as a meat shield! You can’t quite see her in the image up there, but Yoshika is the one throwing those yellow arrows.

It’s not really hard to capture, but if you hit Yoshika too much and make her faint, Seiga will resurrect her, but before she does, she’ll throw a mass of bullets which follow a diagonal path…which are a tad bid harder to avoid. So it’s best to aim for Seiga and try not to make Yoshika faint. lol

Possession "Corpse Tongji"

First thing…DEM CURVING LASERS!! FFFFFF

Seiga uses Yoshika once again as a shield, but this time, it’s best to try to make Yoshika unconscious. Not only will the curving lasers stop, but Seiga will be wide open for a short time and will stop shooting bullets while she resurrects Yoshika, so you can shoot at her with no problems. You don’t have to worry too much about the black balls this time, they don’t home in on you like in Evil Sign “Yang Xiaogui”.

Avoiding those curving lasers is a pain, but not as hard as Shou’s lasers in Touhou 12…

Path Sign "Dao Fetal Movement"

This time around, it seems Seiga is the meat shield!

The curving lasers again…and coming with that worry, is the black balls again. They do home in on you, but this time, once they home in they don’t change their path, so they’ll keep going and go off screen. The only problem are the curving lasers. Kinda hard to predict their movements. It’s best to go in circles. Start at the bottom of the screen, go up close to Seiga, move right or left to avoid those black balls, and move back down when the lasers are shot. Hope you avoid them, repeat and the card will be captured.

BTW, that image was taken one second before my death! lol

Out of the new characters, Seiga is my favorite. She’s visually appealing, the prettiest of the new characters IMO, and her past is pretty interesting. Her father left her family, she was enchanted by Taoism, married into a new family, was taken by depression, faked her own death, and wanted to become a sage (hermit). But because of her deception, the heavens did not approve of her becoming a hermit, thus labeling her a wicked hermit.

Stage 05

New Character:

Soga no Tojiko

Stage 5 Mid-Boss – Ghost of the Children of the Gods

Soga no Tojiko

Species: Ghost
Ability: The power to summon thunder

A ghost of a member of the powerful ancient Japanese family, the Soga.

She served Miko together with Futo, but she was denied resurrection as a human due to her previous connections with Futo. It would be more convenient for Futo to deal with her as a spirit.

She didn’t consider her spirit form to be restrictive. Rather, she had no use for a human body, which would break down so quickly.

The Soga and the Mononobe had fought long and hard over Buddhism, but Futo and Tojiko’s relationship is still in good terms, and took on a give-and-take nature.

Now, they both hate Buddhism.

–Touhouwiki

Thunder Arrow "Gagouji's Cyclone"

Soga no Tojiko appears only once, and uses only one spellcard. But she is well remembered in my mind. Her card, is one of the trickiest in the game IMO. She shots those zigzagging arrows down at you, and they’re really wide apart from each other, so she throws round yellow bullets in between them. But even so, the gap is pretty huge, so you think you’ll be able to capture the card easily.

The problem…the arrows do not stay in one path. Those damn arrows move to the left or right…which way they move? I have yet to figure out as they move differently every time the pattern repeats. But because you think you’re in a safe spot, you over look the fact that they are moving towards you and before you know it, you hear the “pichuuun”.

So to capture this card I move up until I’m a bit above the words “Ten Desires” on the right. Once the arrows come down, I slowly move down keeping watch where the arrows take their sharp turn. Then I try to see which way the arrows are moving, and try to slowly tap in the direction they go, all while trying to avoid the yellow balls. It’s pretty hectic! D:

Tojiko also moves to the other side of the screen, I’m tempted to follow, but it’s best to stick to one place and predict the arrows’ direction. She’ll come back anyways. lol

New Character:

Mononobe no Futo

Stage 5 Boss – A Shikaisen from Ancient Japan

Mononobe no Futo

Species: Human? (a taoist who self-identifies as a shikaisen)
Ability: the power to manipulate feng shui

Long ago, indeed, fourteen hundred years ago or so.

Before, in fact, it had been decided that the country would rule over the people. People, things, technology, religion… Many things were being introduced from across the sea.

One of those would greatly influence the direction Buddhism would take in this country.

The country was divided into pro- and anti-Buddhist factions, which dug in more over time. The Mononobe, descendents of the Shinto god, Umashimaji no Mikoto, was in the anti-Buddhist faction. Her confrontation with the Soga, descendents of humans, was dreadful, and afterwards this religious conflict wasn’t talked of as a petty political battle, but as a battle between the lineage of the gods and human dignity.

And so, religious war over Buddhism ended in tragedy.

The battles grew more vicious with each passing day as the Mononobe waged an anti-Buddhist campaign that invaded and burned temples and threw out their statues. Perhaps it was simply bad timing, but after that day, an epidemic began to spread, resulting in the passing of the Emperor.

The Soga proclaimed this to be a curse brought on by despicable acts against Buddhism. This rallied support in Soga’s favor, who was eventually given permission to bring the Mononobe into submission.

This battle resulted in the destruction of the Mononobe. From then on, the nation’s politics were carried out in a fashion befitting Buddhism.

This is what most people know about the religious war between the Mononobe and the Soga.

However, there was someone else pulling the strings behind the scenes: Futo.

A daughter of the Mononobe, she worshipped at the altar of another faith. That faith was Taoism, which had been introduced at the same time as Buddhism. Taoism could grant people superhuman abilities based on their own actions, eventually resulting in immortality. It was particularly appealing to those with political power.

However, that appealing faith also had a weakness. It was not well suited for political control, as anyone could undergo the ascetic training necessary to become a hermit. As a result, she decided to practice her Taoism in secret.

Miko, a fellow Taoist practitioner, came to her with a certain plan. Her plan was to govern the country using Buddhism as a means to keep the citizenry pacified. Then, they would cast a curse on their own deaths and be reborn as shikaisen.

Futo became an ally of the Soga and was able to manipulate them. Thus, the Soga came to be blind followers of Buddhism. Naturally, as descendents of the gods, the Mononobe (Futo excepted) weren’t particularly pleased about this.

The result was a protracted religious war over Buddhism. It was, in fact, a war between the Mononobe, ancient gods of Japan, and Miko, who wished to become a new god through Taoism.

However, it seemed it would take a long time for their resurrection to take place.
That was probably because a group of Buddhist monks doubted that Miko had actually died, and constructed a large temple above her grave to prevent her from resurrecting.

Buddhism had been used for political ends, but it had apparently been a miscalculation to allow it to become so widely followed that even in modern Japan it continues to be widely observed.

–Touhouwiki

Heaven Sign "Rainy Iwafune"

Yes yes, nice boat…let’s get it over with and move on. :/

This is easy to capture. Not really much of a challenge. Just follow Futo to the direction she’s heading, and once she’s off screen, let her shoot her rain bullets and follow after her a little while later. You’ll have enough room to get through the rain bullets. Not hard. Although it’s funny, not impressive.

Throwing Dishes "Mononobe's Eighty Sake Cups"

For a stage 05 boss, these two cards haven’t been that challenging at all. This one is very similar to Cirno’s “Diamon Blizzard” (from Touhou 06) and just as easy to capture.

C’mon Futo, dish something better than this!!

Blaze Sign "Blazing Winds of Haibutsu"

Okay, now her cards get a bit interesting. Only a bit though. Seriously, not hard to capture. The only problem could be that you’re cornered by the bullets and will have to bomb out (or die if no bombs).

Saint Girl "Oomonoimi's Dinner"

First, let me admit that this spellcard pattern is one of my favorites, if not THE most favorite. I like how it encases you and forces you to follow its path. Then those amulets are shot at you and you have to avoid them in the small enclosed space you’re trapped in, awesome stuff.

But, just like her previous cards…it’s easy. Seriously, I expected more from a stage 05 boss…her cards were pretty easy and unimpressive….

Her spellcards were unimpressive, but that pose of hers is very impressive! lol The first time I saw her, I couldn’t help but laugh at that pose. lol Also, just like almost everyone else, I thought she was a dude at first.

Stage 06

New Character:

Toyosatomimi no Miko

Stage 6 Boss – Shoutoku Taoist

Toyosatomimi no Miko

Species: Saint
Ability: the power to listen to ten people speaking at the same time

Born in a stable, she was recognized as a genius at an early age.

Born into a high position, she overheard many complaints when she was young.
People would let their tongues loose around her, assuming she wouldn’t be able to understand them, so she heard a lot of idle grumbling from servants and such.
However, Miko was able to understand them – and provide very specific advice right away.
Rumors of her spread throughout the land, and she gained enormous popularity as a saint.

She had her own troubles as a genius.
“The earth hasn’t passed on from the age of the gods, and the seas are filled to the brim.
Why must humans be forced to accept their own death?”
She became dissatisfied with her fate that, as a human, she would eventually die.

Seiga, who had heard the rumours about Miko, was confident she’d found the person she’d been looking for, and came to spread Taoism to her.

Taoism was essentially nature worship, and by becoming one with nature it could bestow immortality on its followers.

Miko’s heart danced in joy.
She also told Seiga that her faith could never lead to the subjugation of Japan.
Seiga didn’t care about national politics so long as she could further her own goals, but Miko held a different view.

In that case, Seiga recommended, she should make the appearance of becoming a Buddhist. When Miko learned Buddhism was a strict creed that forbade murder, she determined it would be a good means to calm the nation, and accepted it.

Miko spread Buddhism throughout Japan, in order to ensure that those without political power would not gain power. In the shadows, she advanced her own experiments with Taoism.

As a result, she obtained superhuman abilities and left behind a number of legends with which everyone is familiar.

She didn’t neglect her work towards her ultimate goal of immortality.
She turned to the use of various unusual materials, such as cinnabar. This ruined her body.
She had destroyed her health because of the very Taoism that was meant to grant her immortality.
Thinking she’d be unable to wait long enough with the state her body was in, Miko decided to become a shikaisen. This was a secret technique in which she would die (or make it appear that she’d died) and be resurrected.

However, afraid to undergo the procedure alone, she reached out to Futo, and convinced her to go to sleep first.
Believing in Miko’s power, Futo became her test subject. Once Miko confirmed that, after death, Futo continued to sleep without decaying, Miko went to sleep herself.

Miko had planned to awaken when the nation felt limited by its Buddhist precepts and felt the need for a saint. However, her calculations went awry, and the nation was controlled by Buddhism for over a thousand years.

Because Buddhist monks continued to place seals on Miko’s mausoleum, she was unable to resurrect. Miko’s plan had been foiled.

Miko judged she had no need to rush and could resurrect herself at any time, and so continued sleeping. Finally, the time of her resurrection came.

The trigger was a rumor that the legends regarding her were all fabricated. Since, in modern times, there were no more people with superhuman powers, it wasn’t surprising that tales of her exploits were seen as simple lies.

As a result, her mausoleum ended up in Gensokyo. Since there weren’t any temples in Gensokyo at that time, she prepared for her resurrection to proceed whenever she felt it was necessary.

At about that time, though, a new temple was built.
And, whether by plan or by chance, it was built directly over her mausoleum.

That was, of course, Myouren Temple.

Would Miko let herself be held back by a Buddhist monk once more?
Or would she fight that monk?

A fight just like the battles between the Mononobe clan (of the old gods) and the Soga clan (of the Buddhists) had fought over and over so long ago?

–Touhouwiki

Honor "Colors of Twelve Levels"

Alright, this is the first card for stage 06, let’s not expect anything difficult here, take it easy and dodge accordingly. The bullet thickness isn’t as thick, so you can slowly move about and dodge the bullets coming at you. There were a few times I thought I was done for, but the bullets disappeared before they got to me, the move ended and the pattern started again.

Hermit Sign "Taoist of the Land of the Rising Sun"

I like this card. It’s another tricky one. The bullets are really shiny so you can’t quite see that there are two bullets overlapping each other. You won’t notice until they get to the bottom of the screen where they move and separate from each other. Again, the balls are bright, so it’s pretty hard to predict which way they’ll split.

So I fly towards Miko before she throws the balls and move down along with them. That way, I can stare at my hitbox while having the balls in my sight and can tell the moment they move. It’s easy avoiding the first wave, but the second wave will trick you. You may think it’s safe to move up and dodge them, but they’ll split and hit you. So after passing the first wave, stay in the same place and look at the way the second wave splits. That will show you which way to go through, the path will open wide so take the chance and fly through it.

Summon "Royal Clan's Chaotic Dance"

Miko summons two of her allies to help her dispose of you. Luckily, the allies’ bullets are rather easy to avoid, they have wide gaps. Also, I haven’t tried this, but I think the allies don’t have hit boxes so I can run through them without penalty…I may be wrong, I may just have been lucky! lol

I thought Miko was copying Seiga and would use her two allies as meat shields. But no, the bullets go right through them as you can’t hit them. They do follow you to your position though, so it’s better to start the battle really close to Miko, and when the two girls come close to you move to the bottom of the screen and repeat. They shoot more bullets the longer it takes, but it’s not hard.

Secret Treasure "Armillary Sphere of Ikaruga-dera"

Okay, this one I haven’t been able to capture (with Reimu) yet, it’s one of the few cards that really gave me a lot of trouble, I suck at using bombs so I tend to die two or more times with this ”’orz

But now I know how to capture it. The trick is not to use focus. The balls move slowly while they aren’t shining (and have no hitbox) but once they light up, they speed up and moving while focusing is a big mistake. Also, gotta look at the direction they’re turning first, then look at the opposite direction for a clear path. (Yeah, you may have to use focus to get through some crannies but try not to use it much as the speed of the bullets will get you.)

I usually just stay in one place and move up and down in order to dodge the coming bullets. I like this card, it’s a challenge and it keeps me on my toes!

Light Sign "Halo of the Guse Kannon"

More colorful balls of light! Another card I like. They move quite fast so dodging will be hard, especially when non focused. I was tempted many times to do it unfocused (because of the slow down my first few plays made the balls slower and easier to avoid) but I have to keep that button pressed and simply move left and right.

This reminded me of Sakuya (midboss) in Stage 06 of Touhou 06, Miko does pretty much the same move so dodging it wasn’t hard. Just had to use what I learned in Touhou 06 and got through it. The balls of light are pretty though!

Discernment "Laser of Seventeen Articles"

Sometimes I can capture this card no problem, other times I have to bomb my way out of it. I think it’s based on luck…one time I’m given a wide gap between the lasers (and the amulets that come out of it) but other times, and more often, I’m literally right smack in between two lasers. Like the lasers in the left side of the screen, but straight down the center. What’s up with that?

Also, the amulets speed up a bit towards the end of the move, so dodging them and getting away from the next laser is pretty hectic. Another difficult, but fun, card!

I don’t like it though. lol

"Falling Stars on Divine Spirit Mausoleum"

The first time I encountered this card, I captured it no problem because, again, 30fps. lol

But at full frames this is quite possibly the hardest card in a normal run. As the bullets rain from the top, you have to avoid them or try from not getting to close to them. Doing so will make them stop, sometimes stopping in the direction you’re heading, thus running into it. Then after a short while, the stopped bullet will home in on you and launch itself at you. It moves pretty slow at first so you have time to move out of the way.

But while you’re dodging those bullets you got to close to, Miko will stop all bullets on screen and make them go after you. Again, you can dodge them by moving the opposite side, they move slow at first but speed up. One trick is to move in way close to Miko, to her right or left side, and stay there until she launches the bullets your way, then you move down to the bottom of the screen. You will have more room to dodge and you can see where the bullets are moving.

But because it’s still raining orbs of light, you may get too close to one, stopping it and running into it. Keeping track of all this is pretty hard, but fun!

Also, after she has 1/4 life left, she will rain down blue orbs of light, these also stop when you get near but they rain down a lot faster and thicker so not so much free room as the first rain wave. Also this time, she doesn’t stop the bullets and shoots them your way. But because so many are raining down, many will stop, and after a short time fly in your direction. Will get pretty hard to dodge here, but moving up, right, down, up, right, down, may help in dodging.

Haven’t managed to capture it with Reimu on main game, but got it a few times in Spell Practice. (Got it with other characters in main game though.)

And there, I cleared the game (in normal) with all playable characters!

I always play as Reimu first and then I try the other characters once I manage to 1cc with Reimu. She’s best for me, Marisa, although awesome, moves too fast for me. In all games I’m always running into fairies or stray bullets because of her fast movement…I like her lasers and Master Spark, but she’s not my main choice when aiming for a 1cc.

Sanae in this game is pretty weak IMO. Her shot isn’t as strong as the other characters. I like her Superman pose when she’s flying though, it’s funny!

The most interesting character to play with in this game is of course Youmu. She’s just as fast, if not faster, than Marisa. Though I suck with speedy characters, I loved playing with Youmu. Her charge attack is pretty strong. The only drawback is that you have to be focus moving to charge it…I focus move through most of the game so playing as Youmu forced me to use focus as little as I could. Since she isn’t shooting when focusing, I tend to think the spellcards will timeout and rush in order to let go of that focus button…making stupid little mistakes.

Youmu keeps me on my toes, so it’s very fun to play with her.

Also, I learned what Trance Mode does, it gives you double spirit bonus. This is the trick to getting more lives and bombs. If you trance at the right time in a stage, and you defeat the enemies which drop green and purple spirits, those green or purple spirits will count as x2 while in Trance. Originally, you need 10 pieces of purple spirits to get a life, but the more you get the more the amount needed will increase. So the trick to more lives is Trance at the right time.

I also played Extra Stage a few times and managed to get three cards before the end. I haven’t cleared it so I won’t say anything more about it until I do. But before tackling Touhou 13 Extra gain, I want to clear Touhou 11 and Touhou 12 Extra. I already cleared the ones before it, but skipping Touhou 09 again ’cause I don’t really like that game. :/

Until then, I’ll have to put off Touhou 13 Extra…