Shipping in Touhou Project

[@Migu1259]

Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:07 ReiMari (Reimu & Marisa) 3:03 ReiAri (Reimu & Alice) 4:49 (Reimu & Yukari) 6:24 Reimu & Suika intermission 6:40 Reimu & Aya 7:13 Reimu & ~Luigi~ Sanae 8:53 Marisa-Pairings 9:05 MariAri (Marisa & Alice) 11:15 PatchyMari (Marisa & Patchouli) 12:05 Surprise!! 13:04 EoSD 13:14 Cirno & Daiyousei 15:03 Cirno & Aya 15:45 Meiling & Sakuya 17:04 Meiling & Flandre 17:51 Sakuya & Remilia 19:05 Remilia & Flandre (With a Disclaimer) 20:25 PCB 20:40 Letty & Cirno 21:33 Ran & Chen 22:31 Chen & Orin 22:59 Alice & Yuuka 24:01 Alice & Sakuya 25:16 Alice & Medicine 26:03 Youmu & Yuyuko 27:27 Ran & Yuuma 28:10 Ran & Yukari 29:30 Yukari & Yuyuko 31:22 Hifu- NOPE, TIME FOR IN 31:25 Mystia & Kyouko 32:03 Keine & Mokou 33:09 Reisen & Youmu 33:44 Kaguya & Mokou (Violence Warning!) 36:07 PoFV, Aya & Momiji 37:37 Aya & Hatate 38:19 Komachi & Eiki 39:00 Yuuka & Tenshi 39:22 HiFuuJinRoku (Not Hifuu Time yet) 39:28 Hina & Nitori 39:58 Mountain-Intermission 40:12 SWR 40:13 Tenshi & Iku 40:48 Tenshi & Shion 41:42 SA 41:46 Yuugi & Parsee 42:25 Orin & Okuu 43:33 Koishi & Kokoro 44:30 Koishi & Flandre 44:59 UFO 45:01 Nazrin & Shou 46:04 Ichirin & Futo 46:35 Byakuren & Miko 47:24 UFO done, TD next 47:32 Seiga & Yoshika 48:16 Miko & Saki 48:59 Still no Hifuu, DDC next 49:05 Wakasagihime & Kagerou 49:51 Sekibanki & Kogasa 50:28 Seija & Shinmyoumaru 52:18 LoLK 52:21 Sagume & Doremy 53:26 Junko & Reisen 54:24 UDoALG 54:30 Hisami & Zanmu 55:31 Games are done, Written Works left HERE WE GO 55:39 Akyuu & Kosuzu 56:44 The End (YOU'D THINK, time for Hifuu) 56:50 Renko & Maribel 1:00:09 The Ships have Sailed (Outro & some Notes)

[@514komeiji5]

thank you for helping not burn my eyes sometime

[@Skullgod12]

I like how you included the violence warning on mokou x kaguya

[@diwieolaten8777]

No Junko and Hecatia 😭

[@AspreyFM]

Thank you I completely forgot to timestamp this one

[@fumo-fumo-fumo]

God, do Koishi x Satori shippers go to Hell?

[@Sorahx1]

My favorite ship is ZUN and his beer

[@walmadagaming5723]

This is canon

[@Saji_0]

Canon ship

[@Sparkfox-]

The official one haha

[@rgbarrios0331]

Yes.

[@ilovemywhiteshoes]

canon

[@livegeoduck5798]

The "ZUN brought Alice back in PCB so that Marisa could have a partner in IN" guy being right all along was a plot twist I was not expecting.

[@MxPokirby]

The thumbnail made me hopeful that we'd get to see one giant Touhou polycule be mapped out throughout the entire video

[@kgibbershnoxss]

Can't wait for part 2 where you cover all of the remaining 17,000-19,000 other ones

[@toumaaizen556]

By the time he does that, there will be about 20,000 more.

[@DryCombee]

Koishi/Momoyo when?

[@MrDalek2150]

​@@toumaaizen55620,000? I think you dropped about 6 zeroes.

[@toumaaizen556]

@@MrDalek2150 Oh yes I did. But that's cuz I didn't want to worry everyone about the actual number.

[@maglev0789]

I did the math (180 squared) and it's AT LEAST 32,400 pairings and that number is most likely lowballing. This isn't even getting into poly ships.

[@IgoSplashman]

15:10 CirnAya: In th09 Cirno Ending, Cirno is feeling down and thinks about death and stuff because she got eaten by the giant toad, so Aya comes along and tells her to cheer up (and then gets excited as she's about to do something stupid). That's more than enough material for a big sis dynamic.

[@Frikiman_H]

Also, it's canon that Aya likes to check on what Cirno is up to because she knows she'll always end up doing something outrageous, silly, and outrageously silly that will hopefully be newsworthy.

[@trollingnoobs8384]

This isn't a ship anymore, That's a fucking whole fleet of Battleship

[@Aaa-vp6ug]

So… enough to count on one hand?

[@Lemuel928]

Because Patchouli has umm..The full list on books?

[@PrismPlaysGames57]

Explains why a whole fleet appeared on us while fighting Aquila

[@Cypooki]

40:50 Tenshion expert here, The main interesting thing about Wild and Horned Hermit chapter 45 that makes their relationship really interesting is the fact that, after everyone who attended the banquet hosted by Shion fell ill due to her misfortune, Shion got scared Tenshi might be angry at her but no, she even reassures her at the end of the chapter. You can see that in fanworks with Shion often depicted with abandonment issues

[@hjt091]

IIRC ZUN compares Tenshi to Sun Wukong (as in, a supremely powerful and boastful but ultimately good-hearted individual who gets booted out of Heaven for bad behaviour), which certainly makes things interesting now that we've got an actual Wukong 2hu

[@sageker8208]

Son biten wishes​@@hjt091

[@Edknowsnothing]

"The more well known ones" *Looks at the video lenght* Welp this is going to be a long ride

[@yossithe9031]

"ride" pun intended?

[@lottery5795]

Honestly, this was a really interesting look at Touhou ships and it’s cool to see where some of them originated from. Kinda surprised Kanako/Suwako and Junko/Hecatia didn’t show up though since I think those are both pretty popular.

[@bearful]

the junko/hecatia soldiers on twitter cook so hard to feed the masses its incredible

[@kyotokiranami]

Kinda disappointed no JunHeca though smh

[@Xbalanque84]

​@@bearful Why though? Based on what I know about their lore, the only thing uniting them is a shared hatred for Chang'e and an opportunity to get their revenge in Touhou 15. And Hecatia was far less invested in that than Junko was. Unless... are they saying Junko's obsession is _that strong,_ that anyone disliking Chang'e gets her motor running?

[@Pudding404]

The touhou games are often bare-bones when it comes to interactions, besides the main characters who are very slightly more fleshed out. Because of this, characters interacting is noticed alot more. Dynasty Reader was and still is a big gateway to this world for me. I'm very happy Koishi and Kokoro are mentioned, they both can't express emotions, both for very different reasons. They also meet from Koishi messing around and starting the events of Hopeless Masquerade. But the pair is overshadowed by Koishi x Flandre.

[@DanielRenardAnimation]

So this was the video you'd been mentioning over the course of the past few weeks or so. Splendid job gathering so much footage, as well info on each individual pairing, as well having to learn which pairings were substantial enough to even mention them here; Really, it would be an endless video, addressing everything down to the crackships and love-triangles. Well done! 👏👏👏 36:09 Aaaay~ 😸

[@AspreyFM]

Your mini was the perfect length for introducing them. It wasn't planned either, yet it perfectly captured their relationship, so how could I not?

[@blitzenforcer7123]

i love how you started getting more unhinged as this went on. It was an absolute trip to go on with it all. Shipping has been a huge part of the fandom for me, going mental over shipping with friends was months and months of fun, maybe even years at this rate. Thinking about which nutjob would like this crackhead is just endless fun, and such a good thing to discuss. I'd like to throw my own crack ship into the picture, which would be Elly and Yumeko. Two underlings of two powerful women, with differing opinions of their own masters. At first they were rivals, due to Yuuka being an absolute maniac over wrecking Makai. Yumeko and Elly soon found a likeness in each other, and together they made up for the others weaknesses. To go with that, Kurumi and Sara is cool too. Awesome work!! I'd love to hear you rant more about these wacky women.

[@PiTwoo]

man what a wild ship. i wonder what crazy people would come up with elly/yumeko. surely they are wacky and insane. surely they

[@AngryAragami]

In all seriousness, ReiMari is probably my favorite ship because it honestly doesn't change much of their dynamic. They already spend most of their time together, alternate between support and rivalry with no issues, and understand each other to the point where they don't really need to reaffirm their bond with words. What, if anything, they do when the shrine shutters are closed and the sake is out is officially None Of Our Business.

[@hopper8514]

Apparently marisa canonically does actually visit the shrine every day

[@GiornoGiovannaGangstar]

general RInnosuke fan here! I love his interactions with Marisa AND Reimu a lot, being an older brother type and all that since he makes the girls' clothes and weapons, and no matter what bullshit they put him through he never really ends up kicking them out of his shop. I also love him doing some mentoring towards the two along the line of some interpretations of Yukari (one of my fave Rinno dojins " Imaginative Power of Meiji XX" displays this three way relationship very well) though generally, I find his antics with many of the chars to be top notch. Two Dojins which I enjoy a lot that really exemplify his strengths as a character IMO are "Serious Scare: Sealing-Rin" where he's the third wheel to Renko and Maribel and "Remilia's Longing Diary" which is Remilia x Reimu but Rinnosuke acting as a mediator as well as talking about the fact him and Remilia will outlive Reimu. He works best as a "straight man" to all the crazy in Gensokyo for me, someone who you can just chill with and talk about life n stuff I guess. No mention of Myouren X Rinnosuke tho unsubbed and reported

[@darkhorse744]

Fellow Rinnosuke lover here. I found a great doujin that's more about Marisa, but also has some great Rinnosuke stuff in it. It was about fake witches, I'll try to find it, I remember it was on Mangadex though. Personally I prefer Byakuren x Rinnosuke, they've canonically met (Rinnosuke brought Laika to her) and they talked for a bit. Wish more happened, what with him being the oldest known half-Youkai and all. Edit: The doujin is called "The Magician who loved a fake".

[@HoneylandUSA]

2:10 the artists original caption says 'Reimu is Marisa's Wife. Marisa is Reimu's Wife.' the second one featuring a staring contest is also the older one.

[@amcursed]

The AyaCir thing is a classic start of a yuri story. One girl is sad, but then other girl shows up, sad girl vent and other girl give optimistic philosophical response, sad girl touched by other girl's words and was grateful to her. Even started to develop feelings for her. Cirno had an existential crisis after Eiki's lecture. She was brooding at a lake, Aya shows up, get her spirits back up and bam. Material.

[@seki108]

Surprised Suwako and Kanako as well as Junko and Hecatia weren't popular enough.......but damn was there a lot of ships discussed.

[@dormitory650]

yeah thought juncati was more popular 😭 got whiplash seeing junrei but no juncati tbh

[@marcar9marcar972]

Well you got to think, most of those people had husbands and offspring

[@seki108]

@@marcar9marcar972 Doesn't really change the fact that they are fairly popular ships in the fanbase. Hell, I'm surprised Junko/Reisen has more than Junko/Hecatia.....or just more interesting notes than 'yeah a lot of people ship them and they canonically interact'.

[@eazy7737]

The way you been talking about this video in the VODs got me hyped. You definitely did not disappoint, great work, Asprey.

[@genghisdingus]

Saw title. Was hoping for an explanation of the mail system in Gensokyo. I am disappointed.

[@北川幻汲]

そうですね、幻想郷のメールシステムはどのように機能するのでしょうか？

[@BigusGeekus]

@@北川幻汲 It works quite well.

[@mrwhiffy2045]

I'm shocked that you didn't do anything regarding Kanako and Suwako. I thought that was pretty well known but I guess I was mistaken. I guess there was one series of comics I read with Kanako and Suwako basically living together, but I think I remember that really well because it featured Suwako in a suit.

[@MedsieLovr]

25:44 Ah, I remember when I opened Medicine's page on the wiki that exact day, just to remember that Alice is in an arguably worse situation in canon appearances. I saw that part of the Stream, roughly around 4 hours if I remember correctly, unfortunately it falls in the category of "ZUN said so" which translates to "ZUN will forget about it once he gets drunk again" Daily reminder that ZUN said in PoFV's Medicine ending that she would get along with people more and then proceeded to do nothing about it, not even imply, which is just weird. The Eientei crew (specially Eirin) seemed like the perfect fit yet their interactions after PoFV are limited to fanworks and are uncommon. "I just don't get it, why would ZUN make his most masterpiece character just to not include her in anything afterwards?" -Gigachad

[@toumaaizen556]

Probably wants to save her for something that he knows will do well and add to her character. We don't want another Rey Skywalker.

[@NokkoGamma]

As long he still with his beloved beers, then the answer is YES

[@drexfivemorning3930]

I love that the number of ships in this game series is insanely abundant, so much so that You WILL find at least ONE touhou pair in either wholesome works or unwholesome ones.

[@ikhwananimationsbeyondweeb4528]

Murasa x Palanquin Ship is my favourite ship in all of Touhou. I can't wait to see it being talked about in the video

[@TheKoakuma]

Nah, Chiyuri x Probability Space Hypervessel have it's own spice

[@dotv2359]

I haven't really looked into doujin before so this was a very interesting experience. Awesome work!

[@icecontrol1]

6:18 The funny thing about the fanart of the left is that the same artist has done way more shipping art of the two

[@tuldete]

About Daiyousei and Cirno, I remeber a interpretation of Daiyousei in a old RPG maker game (just a little game about Cirno, Daiyousei, Rumia, Wriggle and Mystia trying to become stronger), where Daiyousei role was... interesting to say the least, de acted more like a girl who was always anoyed by cirno and her friends. Daiyousei also had this thing where almost everyone and everything forgets about her (basically everytime Daiyousei is meantion outside of her friend group, they just call her by "that girl")

[@SamuraiCaveman]

I like the idea that everyone just calls her "big fairy" because no one bothers to ask her her name.

[@Shyguymask]

Youmu and Yuyuko are very enjoyable together. Though I also like to imagine Youmu and Sakuya being friends.

[@josiahlute7808]

Why are you here

[@thepanman674]

​@@josiahlute7808 youmu mentioned

[@Jayverse2007]

@@josiahlute7808 youmu mentioned

[@Momijitheawoo]

Brah I kinda miss your vids ngl but I understand why you quit and respect. I hope you’re doing well.

[@sandwich-plays]

omg

[@crosssilver6375]

2:19 Knew exactly which picture you were going to show when you mentioned that XD Fun bits about Randou. He's an american artist considered by many japanese fan as king of yuri, and he does ReiMari a lot back in the day. Also guess what ZUN IS FRIEND OF RANDOU Our beer lord ZUN must be onto something considering he also hired ReiMari mangaka to do his official works(Aki Eda, Azmaya etc.) We just need to let him cook more Anyways ReiMari is my comfort ship, MeiSaku/MokoKeine comes second

[@telestare]

I'm amazed you shortened this to one hour

[@fishingwithkirby3989]

as a certified shipping schizo there are a couple of big ones that were missed off the top of my head. suwako/kanako, junko/hecatia, kasen/komachi, eiki/komachi, kogasa/Nue, Nue/Mamizou, Mamizou/Kosuzu, akyuu/mamizou, yuuma/chiyari, sanae/Son Biten, Marisa/Enoko, sanae/tsukasa, yukari/okina, Nue/murasa. I think there are a couple more but they are like 1 or 2 images so I don't think they need any mentioning

[@burritowyrm6530]

genuinely the funniest interactions in fanon are clownpiece being junko and hecatia’s daughter

[@Mr_Noname084]

There’s always a nonzero chance a part 2 is made. He did intentionally skip over some so the runtime wasn’t a half hour longer.

[@dorothy726]

Alice & Marisa holds a special place in my heart since it was the first ship I ran into (& part of what drew me into Touhou as someone who hadn't figured out they were a lesbian yet). I hadn't heard of the Yukari & Yuyuko ship before but I absolutely adore it.

[@Armydillo62o]

Aha, a chance for me to flex my YukaRei expertise. A dynamic I feel like you didn’t really go into is just how imposing Yukari can be. She’s a pretty significant presence and can often feel like a tornado has passed whenever she leaves a room. This contrasts really nicely with Reimu, who’s usually got a cool head. So many Reimu pairings have her be the one to cut through her partners defenses, be it Marisa’s bluster or Sanae’s general high-strung attitude. But Yukari not only is immune to such attacks, but is able to counter with her own perception, seeing right through Reimu and being able to put her on the back foot. While Reimu is normally honest with everyone, with Yukari being her boss (as well as someone she finds irritating) it can be hard for her to choke out “please pat my head and call me a good girl.” Which Yukari does anyway to elicit a flustered reaction. God I love this pairing.

[@MedsieLovr]

I'm here to see Dylan get angry at the SeijaxShinmy pairing lol.

[@yogsothoth915]

And, as a credit to his awesome objectivity, He made a surprisingly good argument for its workability, even then. (I'm personally surprised he seemingly didn't know Grimoire Of Usami had a manga portion until doing this project.)

[@azulia888]

I’ll take this occasion to mention my favorite unknown ship : Raiko and Hecatia. I know they never interact, but I feel like if there’s one Gensokyan that Hecatia would respect, it’s Raiko, as Hecatia is pretty big on personal freedom, and Raiko literally bargained her existence to be able to keep hers. I know there’s like 20 artworks of them, but I still really love to see it. Also Unzan x Rinnosuke. That one is hilarious and awesome and it makes me happy whenever I see it

[@dinodude7290]

Unzan x rinnosuke my beloved

[@virtuallylightblue]

An hour long video on Touhou shipping is what I least expected to see today

[@harryavocad0]

What a timing, just finished watching your touhou introduction video and there is another one. Now gotta jump into touhou rabbit hole

[@rossjones8656]

I'm beginning my journey and i don't know if i should be scared.

[@L_Nivale]

basically touhou shipping: oh you guys have interacted once? time to ship you guys together

[@TheKoakuma]

And as usual PC-98 shipping got limited to the quartet and those gems weren't covered - ReiMei (Reimu x Meira the canon "You are a girl, I see no problems here") - ShinMa (Shinki x Mima, It's MariAli for grown-ups) - ShinByaku and ShinSari (Sariel x Shinki and Shinki x Byakuren, The three Makai Girls) - YukiMai (Yuki x Mai) - YumeChiyu, YumeSumi, YumeRenko, (Probability Space Hypervessel x Hifuu) - KonnSari (The first final bosses together) Looking forward for the 2nd chapter

[@jonnaas]

Wait.... Wriggle nightbug.... That's just her name???? Poor lady!!!!

[@chimerayoyo]

Really good video, you covered a TON of ground on this humongous topic. That's amazing how much work and effort you put into it. Shipping is such a major thing in any fandom, it was great to learn about so much regarding it with Touhou. Several of my fave ships were talked about, which was cool to see. Surprised Hecatia/Junko wasn't mentioned, but the video was very long so I understand that a lot could not make it in.

[@spaghettiking7312]

I don't ship any characters, but I am an advocate for cuteness.

[@fuckin_abnormal]

Yup, it's cute to destroy family institute and love concept with dirty fantasy of weirdos

[@amberhide04]

the best ship is murasa

[@wx84]

I agree with you

[@billman__1010]

If you ever are gonna do a follow-up to this video, there’s a lot of ships you didn’t cover, and just some notable exclusions that somehow slipped by include: • Kanako & Suwako • Mamizou & Nue • Hecatia & Junko • Okina & Yukari • Yachie & Saki (or Keiki) • Megumu & Chimata (and/or Tsukasa and/or Momoyo, UM’s polycule is weird man)

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

MAMIZOU NUE WOOOOOO

[@dabluepittoo-aqua4213]

A lot of ships were covered here and I greatly respect the effort put into the video! Still there are a few that I wish were covered. Yuuka x Mima - This one's just cute I think. Both originate from PC-98, one's a troublemaker and the other's an intimidating loner. The interactions write themselves. Also nice that Mima can get some love considering she's awesome. Suwako x Kanako - Yeah, both of them are basically Sanae's parents. Remember a really cute origin story for Sanae being that Kanako adopted her after her parents died when she was a young girl. Junko x Hecatia - These two are just wholesome together, mainly thanks to a certain artist who specializes in this ship alongside have Clownpiece as their daughter and Reisen basically as a sibling for the pair. They also drew a bit of Yuuka x Mima so that also got my interest. As for the ship itself, it's quite cute. Mainly because Junko being able to love again after going through such a tragic life is a nice thought and both share a common goal. As for works I recommend: Beneath The Willows is a great fangame that features Sekibanki x Kogasa with a siding of Kagerou x Waki. It also covers LGBT+ topics quite well, which I really appreciate. There's also an artist who I'm friendly with that draws a lot of Okuu x Orin. Edit: Here are the sources: Junko x Hecatia artist (yoku-yukihime) - www.tumblr.com/yoku-yukihime Beneath The Willows - fionakaenbyou.itch.io/beneath-the-willows Okuu x Orin artist (R4bb2t) - twitter.com/R4bb2t

[@wrinty]

I've read my fair share of Touhou shipping doujins and some other works. I was generally not surprised by the ships that showed up here, but I was pretty surprised by their popularity relative to some ships that didn't show up here since I never checked the numbers to see how popular they were: 16:54 Meiling & Sakuya being in the big 3 is the most surprising. I considered it popular enough to probably make the top 10 or maybe even the top 5, but ReiMari and the Hifuu girls more or less have a chokehold on the top 2, so Meiling & Sakuya taking the third spot is a surprise, especially with how little appearances Meiling has throughout the games. I actually thought Sakuya & Remilia was more popular than Meiling & Sakuya, but I was never sure. The fact that Marisa only has 3 ships (well, 4 including the surprise) that breaks the popularity threshold is a surprise. The places I frequent, people always talk about how Marisa is attracting girls left and right and is the biggest heart throb of Gensokyo made me think Marisa's name would show up more often on here. I thought it was because Marisa & Reimu + Marisa & Alice eclipsed the other pairings, but then Alice somehow snuck 5 ships in. Speaking of Alice, the fact that Alice's ship with Yuuka, Sakuya, and Medicine got into this video but not Patchouli was a shock. I guess Alice and Patchouli have more representation in translated Touhou shipping doujins than those, but not as much on pixiv. I expected to see Eirin here since she has the master + servant dynamic going both ways with Reisen and Kaguya. She's also immortal as well, though I'm well aware that Mokou is the far more popular option when shipping Kaguya with another immortal. I usually see Koishi & Flandre as a set together with Satori & Remilia , so I'm surprised the latter didn't get in. The fact no Satori ships got in at all is a surprise outside of the incest mentions was surprising too. I expected Suwako & Kanako to be one of the more popular ships of MoF since they're pretty much a family unit with Sanae, so the fact that Nitori & Hina (one of the ships which I've never actually seen) got in instead of those two was a real world turned upside down moment for me.

[@TouhouManiaSky]

I dont know why but I love the doll holding Alice back in the thumbnail so much lol

[@zewhatyouwannasay]

A lot of Touhou is based on the relationships between the characters, and this is clearly a rather exhaustive overview of *all* of them, from Reimu x Green Reimu to Ran x Yuuma which I somehow never heard of before. It’s definitely more than a funny little Valentine’s Day treat, this video actually covers a lot of the important info someone getting into Touhou will learn. These videos never cease to impress! Also that Pastebin is massive!

[@mikubrot]

ranyuuma has only really appeared after th19, because of them once knowing eachother. apparently ran used to live in the animal realm

[@--_--_--_--_]

honestly any video about this can be diluted to "everyone has been shipped with everyone, even people that have never met"

[@wyoming2868]

my favorite ship is rinnosuke x me

[@zacharyyoungblood7013]

I ship rinnosuke x you

[@MeatBread003]

My favorite ship it X=tenshi×me÷√(suika) so Now what number it X

[@goodgamer1419]

hell yeah less beans

[@SpiritofFive]

I know it's only in one fan-work (two if you count the sequel), but I really liked the Osana Reimu ship of older Rumia and Reimu's mom.

[@monedooo]

AN HOUR dear god

[@tastefullynerdy1161]

Honestly, shipping - alongside the music and fangames - is my main reason for having been a Touhou fan for more than 12 years. And what can I say... YukaYuyu is my Genskyo. Especially because with the right amount of brain acrobatics and the right mindset, you can ship everyone with everyone and it doesn't really come across as pure crack, all the while still forming adorable couples that are just wholesome. Shipping Shinki and Sariel? Weird but Sariel lives in hell, is an angel of Death and powerful, so maybe she's one of Shinki's earliest creations. Shinki x Mima? Easy, mega powerful bosses that just happen to be maternal figures of one of the most popular ship. Yuyuko x Eiki? Eiki is Yuyuko's boss, giving us a classic lazy employee vs strict boss dynamic. Youmu x Ran? Servants of my personal OTP who probably see each other often. Kanako x Chimata? Two goddesses who can bond over their love for money and mercantilism etc. etc. Shipping is an essential part of Touhou to me and as much a never-ending rabbit-hole as the music and fanworks.

[@mbmproductions9217]

i know nothing about touhou but i still studied this video harder than my lectures in college

[@ariyashii]

As a fresh Touhou fan your videos have been amazing in learning about the franchise, but as an obnoxious lesbian obsessed with shipping this one feels MADE FOR ME, so thank you! Also I feel like the aspect that makes Mokou and Kaguya interesting outside of the hate-love dynamic is that they are both immortals, so I've seen a lot of works focusing on them basically finding strange solace in each other that they are unable to find in anyone else. The immortal yuri of it all.

[@Wapcvm]

You forgot my favorite ship. All of them at the same time.

[@lazydelibird]

Dylan is really getting a lot of mileage out of that Alice image.

[@hahano8975]

I noticed Chen and Orin together in that WaHH panel (the same one with Kogasa and Sekibanki standing next to each other)

[@brendansage6876]

I'm pretty sure at least part of the reason why Eiki is so short in fanon is because in her PoFV artwork she's wearing a fancy, flowing skirt, but because of how her artwork cuts off at her waist, it somewhat looks like she's wearing a dress instead. Meaning that below where her artwork cuts off are her knees, not her ankles, and it's possible to look at her and think she's half as tall as she is. This sort of makes sense because Eiki is about a head taller than Komachi (as you can even see in the artwork at 38:54). Komachi is already very tall, so Eiki being half as tall as she is wouldn't seem impossibly short. This might've lead to people interpreting her as being comedically short rather than freakishly tall.

[@joseal8340]

You really outdid yourself with this one, it was incredibly fun to watch, your editing is the best it's been, and the writing was very entertaining, even when i was already knowledgeable about the pairings it was very interesting hearing you go into detail about them. Shame ReiRemi didn't get talked about but i guess it's not as big as i wish it was huh.

[@StarkMaximum]

As a topic I find myself quite passionate about, as a guy who got his start writing fanfic for the things he loves, this is without a doubt my favorite video you've ever done. It's enlightening, it's validating, it's funny, and it gets me thinking about character pairs I may have just left for granted! My favorite ships are Aya/Momiji, Yukari/Yuyuko, Meiling/Sakuya, Youmu/Reisen, Yuugi/Parsee, Seiga/Yoshika (as toxic yuri as you like), as well as Reimu/Most people and Marisa/Most people, including each other (there's just too much potential with both of them). I will admit, Double Spoiler's release did a number on my blood pressure as I had to deal with a thousand "um actually" comments about how all my Aya/Momiji fanfic was now _wrong_ and _not canon_ and _must be purged,_ but like you said, it's an interesting challenge to make that ship work alongside Double Spoiler, but I choose to believe that ZUN was just fucking around and thought it would be funny and thus I am free to ignore it. That ship and the very specific dynamic I've hit on with it is _very important_ to me and I refuse to discard it just because a fucking side game said I have to. Now that I have a new entry into the top tier all time favorite Touhous with Sannyo, I'll have to put in the legwork and find someone to ship her with post-haste! Regarding Seija/Shinmo, I know you said you have your issues with how the pairing is played out because it seems to be based on a foundation of "Seija lied, Shinmo didn't care, now they kiss", and I'm very, very rusty on any character past UFO because I haven't been as closely linked to the 2hu fandom as I used to be so this may be entirely unfounded. But based on the way you described it, it seems like you could easily found a relationship there with a foundation of "Seija lied to get what she wanted, Shinmo forgave her because she's simply empathetic and doesn't hold grudges, and Seija was so confused by someone being forgiving to her that she began to cherish that unknown feeling", because from what I recall, most people don't like Seija and the feeling is often mutual. Perhaps Shinmo just managed to pierce that iron guard on Seija's heart with a well-placed "I forgive you"?

[@jungleboyayaya]

This video was very much well worth the build up wow also seeing my own art at 21:49 was surreal lol

[@the24thcolossusjustchillin39]

I’m surprised you didn’t mention any of the shipping phrase, but awesome vid anyway😂 Get your rest dude, you’ve earned it

[@KuruSeed]

nice that someone recognizes friend is a part of ships

[@Aaa-vp6ug]

37:39 Correction: Hatate outranks Aya The long and short of it is: Purple means super high rank in the very strict Tengu society, as in Nobility or Princess, thanks to Japanese ranking colours, The Hime in Himekaidou is there for a reason {and it was BEFORE people put titles into their names to basically catfish with names} Meanwhile, Red is basically working class colours, Reflected by Aya and Momiji’s tiny tiny breaks. Also, reflected in canon by Hatate outranking Megumu who outranks Aya. Sorry for this meaningless Tangent They are NOT in equal footing

[@nadox5259]

Still, from the hierarchy system that was presented in canon, crow tengus do the journalism regardless of what the colours of their hats are. Megumu being their superior, Aya and Hatate as equal, and Momiji is the lower one.

[@Aaa-vp6ug]

@@nadox5259Fair though, I see where you’re coming from, but I’m saying that Hatate is privileged, especially with the actually worthwhile breaks.

[@alexandros1711]

Huh good video but I'm surprised you didn't include Miko x Tojiko. You know..... because in history..... they are kinda canon......

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

I love Tojimiko, so much that I even watch Horned Owl and Bat desperately scraping at the scenes with them two...

[@crosssilver6375]

Also love how Horned Owl and Bat spawned the new Remillia x Miko too, it even made to 37th place in 2021 partner poll

[@IceWrenSolstice]

The RenMari slander! What I also think contributes to their shipping is that the original hifuu tracks feel more melancholic than most Touhou songs. I feel like there is always at least one track that makes me think something devastating is gonna happen to them in the future. Also, have you seen Marisa's reaction to Reimu dying in Wild and Horned Hermit? That sealed the deal for me that ReiMari is the best Marisa ship.

[@DeadMedia-vf4je]

44:32 I can explain this one In KKHTA Part 3 Koishi and Flandre where Seen Battling against each other after the Episode ended there was some art in the credits showing them being best friends and the Creator of KKHTA would sometimes make wholesome art of both Flandre and Koishi ignoring the fact that there Violent against each other so this is less of a ship and more best friends So yea this was created by the guy The guy who made KKHTA as he’s actually really good at making wholesome stuff witch is weird because he created KKHTA

[@noahandrulis9077]

46:51 of all the images in SoPM you had to choose the one depicting when everyone involved in SoPM starts flirting with Marisa.

[@systemrestart120]

Was surprised you didn't mention any of the Nue pairings......... Kogasa/Nue and Murasa/Nue were kinda big back when UFO first came out. Kogasa/Murasa to a lesser extent, too. Maybe they've completely fallen off though.........

[@toumaaizen556]

Also, the wiki has modified the entry of Medicine and Alice so until the interview video(or a transcript of it) is found, we don't have much to go off of.

[@นั่งกินมาม่าที่หน้าจอคอม]

When he skip 16 17 18, i dead inside. I like Okina and Yukari. I like their ex atmosphere. It was like the two of them had been together a long time ago but now they were far apart. The two also talked sweetly to each others (in the joke way)in The grimoire of Usami. But some people don't like this ship because they think Okina will take Yukari away from Yuyuko (I also like Yukari and Yuyuko) or other reasons, I don't know bye.

[@นั่งกินมาม่าที่หน้าจอคอม]

Even no Okina and Yukari isn't as shocking as popular ships like Hecatia and Junko aren't even mentioned.

[@นั่งกินมาม่าที่หน้าจอคอม]

I'm not going to force you to like my ship. I just enjoy writing. Just do what you want.

[@KurageHimari]

Okina and Yukari are a really good pair, you could ship them, you could see them as divorced ex-wives (which is honestly the funniest one), you could just have them being friends/rivals. A big point of Okina's character is being the polar opposite to Yukari. Okina acts blatantly in the open, like a benevolent old-fashioned god who wants to be worshipped, bringing power and blessings (like giving life to Aunn, helping Sumireko in VD) only to then be capricious and manipulative behind the scenes for her own gain (manipulating Flandre to handle Yuuma in 17.5 to get control over the Blood Pool, brainwashing her servants to be just extensions of her own power). Yukari in comparison acts in the shadows, no one knows her motives or workings, but she always and undoubtably acts out of her love of Gensokyo and its residents. They are built to be almost the Yin and Yang of each other, probably more interesting than any other Yukari pair besides Yuyuko. It's a shame people don't care just because they don't care about Okina as a character, despite ZUN's effort to make her arguably the most enjoyable character in modern Touhou

[@ShatteredDream-ww2hp]

2:08 litteraly from zero to one hundred.

[@bikinibottom_hoodclips]

I feel hollow

[@Salted_Rice223]

suprised for the lack of suwako and kanako, I could have sworn they were shipped a lot...

[@flyingrafts7287]

I'm the kind of person who needs to watch a channel for a while and see a good amount of their videos to subscribe... I instantly subscribed when I heard 6:53

[@lukaschen3009]

2007 isn’t the earliest year for Touhou… some of these shippings surely date back much further. I bet there are even doujinshis of touhou ships in 2003 or so. But again, it’s much harder to find them

[@MrMulaVeia]

Personally, I think SHIPS is one of the best things about the Touhou community! I lost count how many times I laughed at funny stories like Meiling/Sakuya and Junko/Reisen. I love the interaction the fans put into them.

[@Pulpo_Pol]

Couldn't agree more, my favourite is the palanquin

[@josiahlute7808]

Nah

[@kirbykraver8792]

I always find it kind of funny that Aya x Cirno is a decently popular ship for both when, ignoring fanon reasons (Cirno wouldn't care about the newspaper enough to be bothered by Aya's antics, Aya is a crow yokai and would be attracted to Cirno's shiny wings, etc.), their one significant interaction in canon in PoFV is "Aya talks Cirno out of an existential crisis." But hey, if it works, it works. I̶ ̶k̶i̶n̶d̶a̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶,̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶I̶ ̶l̶o̶v̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶t̶h̶ ̶c̶h̶a̶r̶a̶c̶t̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶a̶n̶a̶r̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶c̶u̶t̶e̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶h̶e̶l̶l̶.̶

[@iam9991000]

I love your thumbnails.

[@corbeauwrite]

top tier video, you are insane

[@Tigershark5639]

It's funny when people get into ship wars and stuff. I simply just apply multiverse string theory, and it solves everything!

[@joshnoritake3167]

Ah, Touhou lost branch of legend, a true classic. But I gotta say, I think hifuu is important to gensokyo as a connection to Touhou’s esoteric aspect, more as part of zun’s desire to create a mythos for Touhou and not just “goofy girls shoot beams”.

[@interdimensionalcommunicat9750]

A lot of people in the comments are like "why didn't you bring up this ship here?". One that I haven't seen mentioned by anyone is Okina/Flandre. I don't really like it at all, but its absurdly popular in Japan despite getting no attention in the west whatsoever. Like, I don't think most western Touhou fans even know it exists despite how much fanart it gets. (It has 112 images on pixiv, for comparison Yuuma/Ran which is in this video only has 42, and Hisami/Zanmu has 107). Yuuma and Flandre was also a thing for a while but it seems to have been completely eradicated by Yuuma/Ran and Okina/Flandre.

[@heavenlyfrosted]

Okina/Flandre sounds interesting... Curious what the dynamic is!

[@gunmunz]

I REALLY hope ZUN follows up on MikoSaki Ether in a manga or maybe one of the side games. Just the potential of drama. Like imagine you were forced to leave your pet dog behind when you moved away only for it to show up on your doorstep years later...and its a mafia don.

[@karmicbacklash3763]

Hey, a long while ago I said your audio mixing could be better and you then got back to me to ask about it, I never responded and I feel bad about that. Better late then never, it's good now and you've gotten better in every regard since. Keep up the good work.

[@GarbageFire13]

As a Doremy simp I will never understand why she gets shipped with Sagume, other than tenuous crap like "Sagume ordered Doremy to make a Lunar Capital copy" and "they're next to each other on the stage list." My best guess is the extrovert / introvert thing like with Parsee and Yuugi, but Doremy ain't half as extroverted as Yuugi is. As for me, I don't have much enthusiasm for shipping, but if I had to pick an OTP it'd be Reimu and Marisa solely for the immeasurable amount of history they have (and also I'm a basic bitch).

[@uber_nerd-l7r]

To awnser your question about Cirno and Aya, Cirno has a existential crisis in PoFV after Eiki tells Cirno that shes going to die someday. and Aya is the one that helps her resolve it and restore her normal confidence. I don't really ship them, but I understand why they're shipped.

[@NeoAya]

Aya and Cirno being so popular based on one interaction, while Aya and Mamizou have next to nothing despite sharing two mangas worth of interactions will never not be the death of me

[@lanibentz9976]

Okay maybe it’s just because you explained them more then the other characters but…Maribelle and Renko actually have the most interesting story to me. Like I actually would love to read a full novelization of the two

[@HaniyasushinKev]

I already knew this was going to be special but it’s even better lol. The cropped images for comedy and the Alicegasm emote from busy person being used in the best possible places is a cherry on top

[@HaniyasushinKev]

Also, Keiki/Mayumi, and Keiki/Chimata has been a recent set that’s really growing on me as of recently as it’s really nice (especially Keiki/Mayumi)

[@nathanaeldean6301]

"Engaging in behaviour that would make her mother cry" Considering who (fanon views as) her mother, I think those would be tears of joy

[@jvts8916]

Ironically, Reimu X Meira is only brought up in a joking manner. The most common dynamic I've seen involving Reimu misunderstanding the situation so long that they somehow ended up together, to Meira's dismay.

[@pinkcultgirl]

for me, touhou shipping is a very comforting place as a lesbian. the sheer amount of yuri- that takes all different shapes and sizes- thanks to so many talented artists is a safe haven away from real life to me sometimes. i really do appreciate the community so much, and how it's shaped online yuri culture from the get-go :> it was a shocking treat to have a character like hisami come out this summer and totally blow the old "every 2hu is straight" cope and seeth bs out of the water, and I'm exited to see the new age of yuri that she brings :3

[@molluscumlore]

Yeah it was certainly funny seeing the change from the hentai only touhou fans where it's like "no one's gay you're just delusional!" to trying desperately to come up with some reasoning for why hisami is somehow not gay for zanmu lol. But yeah there's so much touhou yuri I spent a while some time back hyperfixating on reading all of it that was available in english and still didn't come close to finishing. Another fun thing is that I believe that every single author ZUN has had make official touhou manga has written touhou yuri, mostly even before they got officially involved. Aya azuma loves reimari especially

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

​​@@molluscumloreare you saying hentai only touhou fans arr homophobic? If so, I beg to differ and you are completely wrong, in fact the opposite >:( also yeah 99% of 2hu manga artists have yuri works, its amazement

[@wx84]

If I can recall, there still aren’t any official ships since hisami’s obsession or infatuation with zanmu is an admiration type situation, the kind you would have for a leader or master instead of a romantic one. (Don’t attack me please I’m just correcting misinformation)

[@molluscumlore]

@@wx84 Nah, it's very much a lesbian type obsession. I played the game and saw the english translation, and compared a couple key lines to raw japanese and can confirm even if it's not romantic (which is doubtful. At least, in het pairs romance coming with attraction is taken as a given) it's very much sexual lol. She's not like "Fuck me zanmu!!" or anything because that's not ZUN's style, but she very much is trying to make zanmu punish her with a tone that only a masochist would be written as having. Like, "If you're feeling bad you can step on me, zanmu." is a line that she says. The raw doesn't *exactly* say "step on me", but it does use an onomatopoeia for punishment and saying "beat me" or "punish me" are equally suggestive. Not an attack on you, just saying it's very much canon lol

[@wx84]

@@molluscumlore Hmm I got told that there was an error in the translation and that the actual meaning is not romantic, which makes sense since ZUN doesn’t add romance in his games…. but I guess that’s a problem that can happen when translating other languages Also is masochism inherently sexual or romantic? I don’t know much about that specific subject sorry

[@DeadMedia-vf4je]

The main explanation for the Ship of Cirno and Aya comes from Cirno’s Ending in Touhou 9 After Cirno gets a Talking by Eiki she goes to a lake thinking about her own mortality Aya did come along and help her out of her slump

[@kokodi01]

Two Characters: *exists on the same screen for 0.0000001 seconds The community: 🛳

[@kylegrefe4399]

Patchouli and Marisa needs more love. I read a delightful little dounin about the two of them somewhat recently, with a Patchouli who feels bad knowing she'll outlive Marisa and trying to push her away.

[@misdre0111]

I am a doremy/sagume enjoyer and also have no explanation for you, other than that their designs look good together with a dreamy purple&soft vibe. doremy is one of my favourite characters and LoLK my favourite game, I saw art of them, I ship it because why not. (and because I'm thirsty) I have a feeling that a lot of shipping is based on just liking the pretty art tbh

[@justinsanchez6255]

One of my favorite head cannon about Marisa and Rinnosuke relationships I've read is that Rinnosuke scams Marisa on the price of things while ignoring her stealing and he feels bad about scamming her. But Marisa knows he's scamming her and she thinks he never notices that she steals from him.