My Daily Touhou Music #1: A Strange Kappa Living in Solitude

Takane Yamashiro

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Sep 27, 2023, 10:35:44 PM9/27/23

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So I thought of doing one of those daily posting things from the
r/touhou subreddit, to make the discussion in this newsgroup more
lively. Please feel free to do one yourself too as a follow-up to this
message, and crosspost your daily to any newsgroup your chosen music is
relevant to (don't forget to change the title and reference this post by
Message-ID). :) It can be any Touhou music, whether official, fan
remixed, or even fan originals (as long as they're sufficiently
Touhou-styled)!

For my first daily I want to share with you this Touhou-style original
by Nitreon (original composer) and Artifex (re-arranger) called "A
Strange Kappa Living in Solitude". Here's where you can listen to it on
YouTube (via Invidious):
https://yt.chaotic.ninja/watch?v=P3YddsnwuEg

Despite the name and the background/thumbnail used by Artifex, this is
not a Takane theme, as stated by the description in YouTube:

> By the way, if you've noticed the little note in the middle part of
> the video, it means you got it right. It was actually for Nitreon's
> original character which is also a green kappa. But since TH18 was
> released by the time I re-arranged this track, I might as well had an
> art of Takane as a background wallpaper instead of Nitori. (It just
> fits better in that setting)

But I like to think it is. This comment by "pandakekok7319" best
describes what I imagine this theme is about:

> I know this isn't supposed to be Takane's theme, but I can imagine
> this being the theme of Takane when she was expelled from the kappa's
> society for her radically different views, living and surviving alone
> in the mountain's forestry. This is before she realizes her identity
> as a Yamawaro instead of a Kappa and eventually got more followers
> from kappa that are as disgruntled as she was.

I can't add any more to this.

Even the original composer (and the re-arranger via a heart) seems to
like it:

> that's one way to think about it

I wish ZUN gives us more lore about the yamawaro. TH18.5 is great in
that it shows a bit of insight on how yamawaro think, but there has to
be more to that.

Give us plenty of yamawaro chapters like you did for the kappa in Wild
and Horned Hermit, ZUN!

Mima-sama

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Sep 28, 2023, 1:20:25 AM9/28/23

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On 9/28/2023 10:35, Takane Yamashiro wrote:
> So I thought of doing one of those daily posting things from the
> r/touhou subreddit, to make the discussion in this newsgroup more
> lively.

Sounds like a good plan!

> For my first daily I want to share with you this Touhou-style original
> by Nitreon (original composer) and Artifex (re-arranger) called "A
> Strange Kappa Living in Solitude". Here's where you can listen to it on
> YouTube (via Invidious):
> https://yt.chaotic.ninja/watch?v=P3YddsnwuEg

Yeah I've heard of that theme before, I liked it too. In fact...

> But I like to think it is. This comment by "pandakekok7319" best
> describes what I imagine this theme is about:

That's me you're quoting on. ;) Glad you liked that 10 month old comment
of mine. :D

> I wish ZUN gives us more lore about the yamawaro. TH18.5 is great in
> that it shows a bit of insight on how yamawaro think, but there has to
> be more to that.
>
> Give us plenty of yamawaro chapters like you did for the kappa in Wild
> and Horned Hermit, ZUN!

You're damn right. Currently it just looks like the kappa and yamawaro
are both obsessed with making money... Which is just boring you know? I
always have the headcanon that Takane and the yamawaro are secretly
socialists or communists guerillas or something, and that their
"capitalist" or market activities are all a front...

--
Mima
Reincarnated Legendary Evil Spirit of Complete Darkness

Mima-sama

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Sep 28, 2023, 1:49:14 AM9/28/23

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On 9/28/2023 10:35, Takane Yamashiro wrote:

> So I thought of doing one of those daily posting things from the
> r/touhou subreddit, to make the discussion in this newsgroup more
> lively. Please feel free to do one yourself too as a follow-up to this
> message, and crosspost your daily to any newsgroup your chosen music is
> relevant to (don't forget to change the title and reference this post by
> Message-ID). :) It can be any Touhou music, whether official, fan
> remixed, or even fan originals (as long as they're sufficiently
> Touhou-styled)!

Alright, I'm gonna follow you up. :)

(The parent message's ID is <uf2opt$3glpa$1...@dont-email.me>)

My Touhou music of the day is PERFECT AIM by the doujin circle SOUND
HOLIC. You can listen here in YouTube (via Invidious) with Traditional
Chinese and English subtitles (since it's a Japanese vocal):
https://yt.chaotic.ninja/watch?v=OZ1rdcBIfNw

It's a J-Trance and rock remix of two themes from Touhou 2 (PC-98 era):
- Extra Love (extra stage theme)
- Tank Girl's Dream (Rika's extra boss theme)

Hence the addition of alt.music.trance, japan.comp.pc98,
tw.bbs.music.japan, and rec.games.video.classic to the crossposts.

This SOUND HOLIC arrange has been eating at my mind like a brainworm.
It's such a fire remix that I had it on loop for hours, especially when
I'm coding.

It also doesn't help that I *love* Rika from Story of Eastern
Wonderland, and that I think she's a very underrated character in the
whole Touhou series. Yes, being a PC-98 character automatically makes
you underrated (except if you're Mima, Yuuka, or maybe Shinki or Elly),
but damn Rika is a contender for being the most underrated. She's purely
human (and not a youkai like Nitori, who is an engineer like Rika) yet
has built tanks, made bakebake (which are stage enemies that look like
ghosts and will become a staple of the series until the end of the PC-98
era), and given Reimu hell in extra stage. That makes Rika more the
impressive to me compared to Nitori.

Anyway back to the music, the instruments are all fantastic. The 12
second mark is such a powerful start you could've told me it comes from
Ace Combat or shit and I would've believed you for a second. The
electric guitars are absolutely shredding, and the vocalist has a
beautiful voice, as expected from SOUND HOLIC!

Mima-sama

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Sep 28, 2023, 1:54:47 AM9/28/23

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On 9/28/2023 10:35, Takane Yamashiro wrote:

> crosspost your daily to any newsgroup your chosen music is
> relevant to (don't forget to change the title and reference this post by
> Message-ID). :) It can be any Touhou music, whether official, fan
> remixed, or even fan originals (as long as they're sufficiently
> Touhou-styled)!

By the way be aware of the crossposting limits by your newsserver. It
seems that Eternal September only allows you to post to a maximum of six
news groups, so that makes 4 free slots you can only pick from. I don't
know about other news servers, but I recommend sticking with a maximum
of 6 groups posted so that your article won't get rejected silently by
other servers (if that's a thing). So choose your news groups wisely.

Takane Yamashiro

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Sep 28, 2023, 2:16:21 AM9/28/23

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On 9/28/2023 13:20, Mima-sama wrote:
> That's me you're quoting on. ;) Glad you liked that 10 month old comment
> of mine. :D

Huh, what a small world we have. :)

> You're damn right. Currently it just looks like the kappa and yamawaro
> are both obsessed with making money... Which is just boring you know? I
> always have the headcanon that Takane and the yamawaro are secretly
> socialists or communists guerillas or something, and that their
> "capitalist" or market activities are all a front...

Guerillas? That's an interesting headcanon. What made you think of that lol?

Kijin Seija

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Sep 28, 2023, 2:28:15 AM9/28/23

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Hot damn, that's some lit music indeed :D

Anyway I wonder if posting to alt.music.trance was the right choice.
This sounds more like rock to me, and there are plenty of rock
newsgroups here

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Sep 28, 2023, 5:34:14 AM9/28/23

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Hmm I think I might have found the cause. I wasn't subscribed to those
japan and tw newsgroups.

Still is probably a good idea to stick with Big 8 and alt tho

Takane Yamashiro

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Sep 28, 2023, 5:38:48 AM9/28/23

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On 9/28/2023 13:49, Mima-sama wrote:
> My Touhou music of the day is PERFECT AIM by the doujin circle SOUND
> HOLIC. You can listen here in YouTube (via Invidious) with Traditional
> Chinese and English subtitles (since it's a Japanese vocal):
> https://yt.chaotic.ninja/watch?v=OZ1rdcBIfNw
>
> It's a J-Trance and rock remix of two themes from Touhou 2 (PC-98 era):
> - Extra Love (extra stage theme)
> - Tank Girl's Dream (Rika's extra boss theme)

Loved it. The Rika background used by the uploader is cool too.

> It also doesn't help that I *love* Rika from Story of Eastern
> Wonderland, and that I think she's a very underrated character in the
> whole Touhou series. Yes, being a PC-98 character automatically makes
> you underrated (except if you're Mima, Yuuka, or maybe Shinki or Elly),
> but damn Rika is a contender for being the most underrated. She's purely
> human (and not a youkai like Nitori, who is an engineer like Rika) yet
> has built tanks, made bakebake (which are stage enemies that look like
> ghosts and will become a staple of the series until the end of the PC-98
> era), and given Reimu hell in extra stage. That makes Rika more the
> impressive to me compared to Nitori.

I wonder what Nitori would think of Rika if they meet each other. Since
they're both engineers it probably is likely that the one will encounter
the other somehow someday... :)

(On a lesser related note I should get back around to playing PC-98...)

Mima-sama

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Sep 28, 2023, 5:43:39 AM9/28/23

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On 9/28/2023 17:38, Takane Yamashiro wrote:
> Loved it. The Rika background used by the uploader is cool too.

EX Rika is best Rika! :D

> I wonder what Nitori would think of Rika if they meet each other. Since
> they're both engineers it probably is likely that the one will encounter
> the other somehow someday... :)

Nitori would probably be curious first on how Rika was able to achieve
her engineering feats without any magic at all (or at least as far as we
know, but it does seem like Rika doesn't look like the type who would
know how to use magic though). And befriend her of course. Kappa and
humans are friends! :D

> (On a lesser related note I should get back around to playing PC-98...)

Gotta virtually dust off that virtual hard disk image! :3

Mima-sama

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Sep 28, 2023, 11:14:24 PM9/28/23

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On Thu, 28 Sep 2023, Kijin Seija wrote:

> Ok here's mine: https://yt.chaotic.ninja/watch?v=J_Qf9qS5G98
>
> It's a Touhou 19-style arrange of Nemuno's theme. Sounds like an improved
> version while not radically differing from the original (and while still
> having the UDoALG vibe)

I like it. Makes her theme sound a bit more intense and murder-y.