Key Changes in Touhou Music

Key changes are often used in popular music and video game music when moving into new sections to contrast the material that came before, and to give a sense that the listener is being taken somewhere 'new'. Touhou music takes this to the extreme, with plenty of tunes in the Touhou library changing to a brand new key for every section of a piece, sometimes 4 or 5 times in one single piece of music. In this video, I take a look at a couple of Touhou tunes where a series of key changes are used to strengthen the musical flow and structure of the piece. Enjoy!
Big thanks to my buddy Dac and Pearl for providing background footage: • Touhou 7 - Perfect Che...
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[@ilyasbasuki3207]

People talking about Touhou music: *explains the intricacy of the notes and key changes* ZUN making the music: *drinks more beer and debates how many trumpets to put in*

[@fifasbass2228]

hahaha ZUN just wanna have fun!

[@ordinarytree4678]

Ya tbh. While some musicians put lots of thought into their compositions, looking at music as closely as this channel does sometimes feels like the equivalent of obsessing over a single background colour choice of a painting. It has an impact, but its not the whole picture. And usually its just an arbitrary choice.

[@carso1500]

@@ordinarytree4678 it's definetly important thou, because this is the reasons why even if it was done at random it sounds good

[@pupilmusic3197]

carso1500 i agree most of it , in my opinion, isn’t random or planned its just what he feels is right. But its important to teach and observe why it feels right.

[@wyattreed4024]

@@ordinarytree4678 Analysis of music like this is not necessarily trying to explain how the creator came up with a piece, but explaining why the piece has the effect that it does on the listener. Distinguishing between these two is very important.

[@ycantiusegeorgiantextforhandle]

If ZUN was born 200 years ago, we would be learning about him in music classes.

[@TheRealFraston]

Well, was Roland making synthesizers in the 17/1800's ?

[@JustSomeoneWhoLikesBears]

In an alternate universe betthoven is ripping off "Septette for a dead princess"

[@veryredfumoze]

In 20 years we will be

[@grylltheonion]

Probably not. His music is interesting, but many pieces just repeat themselves in different keys. The music is good for video games, I admit, but nothing new.

[@JustSomeoneWhoLikesBears]

@@grylltheonion Not all classic composers were universally loved in the past neither

[@MathyOld]

8-BIT MUSIC THEORY DID TOUHOU 8-BIT MUSIC THEORY DID TOUHOU 8-BIT MUSIC THEORY DID TOUHOU THIS IS NOT A DRILL

[@waldofelix29]

I can now die a happy man.

[@NigelTonberry]

Next: Homestuck. And then, the world!

[@aeriumsoft]

now we need ongaku concept to make a touhou video and then the world is bepis

[@pendalink]

really happy about this

[@ws04]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH *INTERNAL SCREAMING*

[@m_d_c_t]

and remember, this is just two songs out of two contiguous full days of music

[@Kobra-zh8td]

More if you count the literal hundreds of Doujin circles that make arrangements of this music in literally every genre you could possibly imagine from easy listening piano (TAMusic) to brutal death metal (Undead Corporation)

[@ErebosGR]

@@Kobra-zh8td I don't even like very much the original Touhou music but Touhou rap and Touhou metal are ingenious in the way they bend the music!

[@siriusfat]

@@ErebosGR I still can't comprehend how the guys at Tamaonsen rap about the way to beat Imperishable Night Extra Stage on Lunatic mode

[@natheniel]

@@Kobra-zh8td Check out Tokyo ActiveNEETs too! Their orchestral arrangement sLAYSSSSS

[@benlisquare]

If you exclusively listened to EDM remixes of Touhou themes, it'd probably take you a couple of months. Same goes for metal remixes, and even jazz. There probably are a handful of niche genres that are underrepresented, though; I don't think I've ever heard a Mongolian throat singing remix of a Touhou track. EDIT: For those interested, my channel features comparisons of different remixes of the same Touhou song, showing the various ways artists can completely reimagine the same base tune. Feel free to take a look.

[@gansta432]

I love all the comments of "OMG he covered touhou". Just goes to show you that touhou is still ridiculously popular despite not many talking about it.

[@UnclePutte]

It's a post-2k weeb generational experience.

[@NothingXemnas]

I like to call it "cult". Its fans are rare and far between, but that hides the fact that not only they are numerous, they are also VERY DEDICATED to the franchise, myself included.

[@howareyoumoreofaclownthanme]

Yeah, we never really left. There's a VTuber in Hololive called Houshou Marine and she's a huge Touhou fan, even spoke with ZUN. There was basically no demand for her to be the Touhou girl, but she is in her company (Hololive).

[@borederlands5387]

Both rare and numerous like some kind of deep sea creature

[@AmiaMizuki25]

Indeed

[@shingshongshamalama]

I love the way Necrofantasia's sneaky key progressions make it feel like it's constantly rising and topping itself even when it pitches down. It feels like a dramatic climax that never stops. Kinda like how Yukari just keeps pulling bigger and crazier bullet patterns out of her ass at you and the fight just escalates until the end.

[@raccoonchild]

Both are godly and make me feel like crying. Love them so much.

[@catchy9665]

Trains

[@9Tensai9]

I'm surprised you didn´t mention that Hartmann Youkai girl is a musical palindrome. It plays the same (like half of it at least) even in reverse. When you were analyzing it you could see it there too.

[@KingHalbatorix]

Holy shit I didn't even notice that

[@euphony5552]

Also Reverse Ideology

[@AdamFSmith]

I was JUST about to mention lriG iakuoY s'nnamtraH

[@luckluster]

@@trabant3060 Actually I've seen Reverse Ideology one being still disputed. It's similar in reverse, but I'd say Koishi's theme is a better example of an actual musical palindrome. I don't know much about music myself, but it just seems like people assumed Reverse Ideology is a palindrome... because it just makes sense.

[@stardustreverie6880]

@@luckluster ^this. I feel like a lot of people are really stretching the Reverse Ideology one

[@1wayroad935]

>Koishi's fight >Huge release in tension There is no such thing

[@Sparky579]

yeah, initially I thought Subterrain Animism had the easiest extra stage (bc I reached koishi with no problem or death at first try) and there's a very low chance this extra boss could defeat me. I confidence broke that very day when I saw Koishi throwing hearts at me. (except I still love her "Youkai pictograph" survival spell to this day).

[@Dubspez]

I’m shedding a tear seeing all these Touhou fans here

[@dionysos7735]

Even if a giant meteor whipes out 80% of the entire human race, we will never disappears! And stop beeing freaking degenerates.

[@Kidomaru222]

@@dionysos7735 Those of us who would get hit by this said meteor won't disappear, they will spirit away to Gensokyo. That's how it works !

[@NEETKitten]

​@@Kidomaru222 Nah, we'd just graze the Meteor.

[@9Tensai9]

11:46 "Do some exploring for yourself" Touhou music is an endless rabbit-hole. Just the original music from the games themselves can keep you entertained for months now you add the shit-ton of fan arranges, PV, videogames and fanmade content in general you will keep exploring for years. You can literally hear a theme arranged in every musical style known to man and some more. There's just so much to explore.

[@ssholum]

Love me some Thousand Leaves for Touhou music with that melodeath flavor.

[@ScorelessPine]

Exactly this. Im scared to actually look into it because I know how much time ill lose into just that, but im still also curious how many melodies I'll recognize from elsewhere. There are a ton of Nico Nico music compilations that I know use a lot of popular melodies and I'm 100% certain there are a billion Tohou songs in them (the other music giant in those are anime songs). The biggest ones that I actively know about are Bad Apple, as most people do, and Flowering Night, especially the Night of Nights remix, they're used in so many things its insane.

[@LayerMM12P]

Exactly! I have long fallen down the Akatsuki Records rabbit hole and any effort to escape has become futile (not like I would want to. It's comfy down here, after all.)

[@KokiriKidLink]

Cafe de touhou is a staple for me on long car rides or while working

[@m3nguele]

yeah, especially Demetori ones... One Conclusion is a masterpiece in playing with time signatures

[@Bobbias]

I always loved the chord progressions in touhou music but never knew why, this explains a lot.

[@ipann6693]

can someone tell me touho music in this game ?

[@sargezero]

@@ipann6693 the music from this video? SA Koishi's Theme: Hartmann's Youkai Girl PCB Yukari's Theme: Necrofantasia

[@simpieton5845]

Does it though?

[@puzzlepuddles6712]

I recommend checking out electroll and his partners' explanations in his touhou music tutorial series to grasp the music theory behind touhou music more.

[@Bobbias]

@@puzzlepuddles6712 oh, thanks for the heads up.

[@DensetsuVII]

You know you've made it in Japanese video game culture when 'Touhou Remixes' is a literal genre category in basically every major Japanese rhythm game (Groove Coaster, Mai Mai, Taiko, Sound Voltex...). You know you've made it good when that's the first place I go to when I check out any of those games. As the saying goes, hear a Bad Apple a day, cuz THESE SONGS FREAKIN SLAYYY~

[@denebu]

almost all rhythm games from jp have a “touhou” genre i’ve yet to see one that doesn’t have one

[@JairusC]

LOL. I love that quote and will now use it.

[@ten.seconds]

@@denebu There's no Touhou genre in some of the more conservative rhythm games like IIDX, Dancerush and pop'n music. Some tracks slipped in, but only by Konami's in-house and commissioned artists during an event. Konami ('s Bemani rhythm game label) developed a dozen of rhythm games and it allows them to diversify in terms of who they appeal to.

[@BobisOnlyBob]

Dance Dance Revolution A and A20 has a Touhou category.

[@KirbyJason210]

Well Touhou is pretty popular in Japan, kind of like how One Piece and Jojo are really popular in Japan

[@aggressivebuttonmasher5486]

I know absolutely nothing about touhou except for its music. Essentially, bad apple was 2009's megalovania

[@theolabbate1611]

I really, really hate how right you are about this

[@robotdude2206]

Indeed. Except Bad Apple is actually a good song.

[@guythatdosethingssometimes2651]

@@robotdude2206 both be good.

[@firetntninja4259]

nah man, that was night of nights

[@MisterAppleEsq]

That's remarkably accurate.

[@TheVleckChannel]

Christ, even the music notation looks bullet hell.

[@Gream69]

Rofl

[@roma540]

So, should we play those notes or grace them?

[@braxbro6674]

@@roma540 yes

[@abarette_]

real

[@balintkristof8442]

You have yet to see black midi

[@banbanban31]

I'm Japanese, and I'm so impressed with your lucid explanation of the marvel of touhou music. So, for Japanese touhou music freaks, I'd like to translate this video into Japanese. Would you allow me to translate it?

[@meenachandran4923]

I don't know Japanese please teach me lol

[@taylorbroad8941]

You should be able to submit Japanese sub titles for the video

[@anidiot4558]

Taylor Broad he might be thinking of posting it on nico nico douga

[@NoAirGame]

Nice you made the Japanese sub. :)

[@kjl3080]

This is why KZbin should bring back community captions

[@deltaphant_]

I love these games' soundtracks, my friends joke that when I play a song during D&D that they like but don't know it's probably from Touhou. They're usually right.

[@rasyadiskandar759]

your friends like the music you play? that must be nice

[@the1zeldafan609]

@@rasyadiskandar759 my friends are music nerds.

[@bazzfromthebackground3696]

I use my dnd group as musical guinea pigs for my composing.

[@EmiTheLoomistar]

How you get these "friends"?

[@agirlandherdrone6987]

Lol, i play touhou music to my friends at dnd as well

[@GL_099]

Touhou music is some of the wildest out there, and quite possibly the most distinct video game music I've ever heard. It's incredibly catchy and always gets you pumped. I thank you for making a video about it. It's honestly a perfect subject for your channel given how iconic it's music is, it's probably more well known than the games themselves.

[@kurichan142]

8:20 "A little jolt, like when you're running downstairs and skip a step by accident." *Best line of the whole video.*

[@PresidentFunnyValentine]

Huh, I know a certain umbrella Youkai who would love the idea of that.

[@TheRealFraston]

Hand out gap.

[@anomyymi0108]

>hundreds of fan arrangements That is quite an understatement by 3 orders of magnitude. Touhou Lossless Music Collection has over a 100 000 tracks. I'm not kidding.

[@Y0UT0PIA]

>hundreds bit of an understatement, that

[@thefakepie1126]

yeah that's what I tought , there's tens of thousands of those

[@DoctuhD]

@@thefakepie1126 I'd bet it's at least 50k by now. The largest Lossless collection I know of is about 1.7 TiB and it's missing a lot of stuff. If we pretended every song was 40 mb then that's almost 47k songs in that collection alone.

[@dustinm2717]

@@DoctuhD that is bigger than my entire hard drive

[@metalsteel5631]

Literally millions.

[@ObservingProcrastinator]

Whenever theme of eastern story is used is one of my favorite parts of Touhou music.

[@aeriumsoft]

yes.

[@littlehammy4030]

I don’t really understand what he’s saying most of the time, but it’s still interesting enough for me to watch the whole video

[@spacemoai]

"What instrument do you play?" "Bullet hell"

[@wohdinhel]

it’s official: this channel is god-tier

[@mordet2]

My man, this was official years ago.

[@vinzer72frie]

@@mordet2 it was good but not as good with touhou covered

[@Jackelmoth]

Dude taught himself music theory so no wonder his chord changes are so idiosyncratic and unexpected

[@slayerofdarknssdmt9697]

Keep in mind he was probably drunk when he taunt himself

[@pizzahut8482]

@@slayerofdarknssdmt9697 he really is the drunk gamer god

[@KirbyJason210]

All thanks to the Sober Zun

[@TimBagels]

@@slayerofdarknssdmt9697 write drunk, edit sober.

[@marciamakesmusic]

This makes zero sense

[@spacepiratehacker5464]

8-bit Music Theory talking about Touhou Music... Aw, yes! A dream is coming true! And one of my favourite examples of this got to be either the boss theme of Youmu in stage 5 of PCB (Hiroari Shoots A Strange Bird) where you literally have two key changes reusing the same melodic idea (which incorporates two key changes in itself) in in such an awesome way which makes it so much more exciting or Pure Furies in Lolk where ZUN changes from C#-minor to D-minor over just a few bars.

[@pizywizy506]

Touhou music was in large part responsible for me getting into music theory in the first place, which in turn lead me to your channel. I actually found the analysis of Necrofantasia's transition to the main melody very interesting, because the progression of the whole section is actually a play on another common progression from the pre-windows era of music that actually does have our V go to our i, showing the iterative nature of ZUN's music. Each one of ZUN's pieces are kind of like chapters of a story grander than just what's in front of you, much like the franchise as a whole, and videos like these are what enable us to appreciate that.

[@WillowEpp]

I think it's kind of too bad he didn't cover some of ZUN's more recent work; th06-09 was his low period, IMO and I feel he matured a lot even in the jump from th11 to th12.

[@pizywizy506]

@@WillowEpp Well, 6-9 represent an era of Touhou when ZUN was reestablishing the series in its entirety, with 8 and 9 really being the two games that cemented the tone and themes of Touhou as a whole. Musically speaking, this era was about iterating upon everything ZUN had learned from the PC-98 Games, Seihou, and Strange Works. It's a bygone era for sure, but it is also the era that gave us Touhou's most loved music, characters, and stories to this day, and anything but a low point.

[@koronator]

​@@WillowEpp I'm intrigued to hear more about the "he matured a lot" part if you don't mind. I love a lot of touhou music from 06 to 11 (Gensokyou the Gods Loved and Green-Eyed Jealousy are my favorites), and I started to feel that the music doesn't hit me as hard around 12-13 (UFO and Ten Desires). I always want to know why I like some music not the other, but I never understand music enough to get to that point.

[@marin0the0magus]

@@koronator I feel like TH12 and TH13 have some bangers, I specially love the final boss themes and the extra stage themes(and desire drive of course), but after that point I stopped liking soundtracks as a whole but more chose & picked the best themes. I think TH11 is the last game whose soundtrack I like in its entirety, and that's because all of the songs fit incredibly well with each other.

[@elipticalecliptic481]

same, actually; touhou music really makes me want to take it apart and see what makes it tick, like god I love it so much

[@weldon1018]

Been playing Touhou since I was a kid and even when I had no idea what all of ZUN’s various theoretical techniques were called I made it a point to study all of the motifs and chord progressions that he loved to use. In fact Touhou is the reason I have such a fascination with the Disney type sound of the bVI - bVII - I progression, especially when the one chord has a Picardy Third. He uses it literally everywhere😂 But anyway Touhou is also what led me to studying music theory in college and I still play it to this day😁 I always hoped but I never thought you would make this video. Now that you have I feel like everything has sort of come full circle lol, keep doing what you do because we all appreciate your work!

[@tvvoty]

Wait, did Disney use it in their movies or you mean metaphorically, like it's sweet and fairy-taly or something?

[@Maelstromarranges]

> hundreds of remixes I think you mean over a hundred thousand, as that's the number logged in a japanese database of touhou remixes.

[@gansta432]

One can download over a terabyte of touhou songs. No joke.

[@sobersplash6172]

@@gansta432 That was several years ago, I don't even *know* how much it is now

[@benlisquare]

It was 1.65TB back in 2018, not including album art or booklet scans (which separately took up 76.5GB). My best guess for 2020 would probably be another 200GB on top of that.

[@ten.seconds]

Give "Touhou Loseless Music Collection" a google.

[@YataTheFifteenth]

@@benlisquare hmm... I'm going to buy a new hard drive just for this.

[@AzuRemilia]

I was kinda expecting you to cover something like Border of Life or Emotional Skyscraper. Those tracks have amazing emotional impact but I guess Hartmann's Youkai Girl and Necrofantasia were also a good choice. Both are amazing examples and introductions to ZUN's style

[@sanityismadness]

Those are both exactly my favorite Touhou songs, excellent taste.

[@marin0the0magus]

I get you, I think Emotional Skyscraper and Border of Life have more emotional payoffs, but Youkai Girl and Necrofantasia are pretty interesting pieces. I'm glad they covered those tbh.

[@GastricProblemsHaver]

Necrofantasia is just too iconic. Touhou's golden age was a bit after PCB.

[@Myway4679]

YES TOUHOU! I've been waiting this forever! As a long time touhou fan I can't thank you enough!

[@samueljohnson6242]

FF7 and then Touhou Project. Two of my favorite game series in a row. Am I in heaven?

[@homuraakemi103]

If only Madoka Magica was primarily a video game (it has video games, but most of the OST is from the anime)...

[@Charle_Z]

[ M A D E I N H E A V E N ]

[@RedheadButNotReally]

Alright, lay it on me... *How do I get into/play these games?*

[@HyperVanilo]

@@RedheadButNotReally You can buy Touhou 13 to Touhou 17 from Steam, but below the 13th you must download the rest on moriyashrine.org

[@samueljohnson6242]

@@RedheadButNotReally I'd personally say start with 10 (Touhou Fūjinroku ~ Mountain of Faith). Some people will probably disagree, but it's both a somewhat easier game than average for the series and (imo) one of the more fun ones. After that, 7/8/12/15/17 are some of my favorites, but it doesn't matter too much.

[@ConvincingPeople]

8-Bit Music Theory: "MICROTONES, GO HOME!" Me: "Hmmm, microtonal Touhou music!"

[@TheOfficialHerb]

You asked for it kzbin.info/www/bejne/qnO9io1ueq56Y6M

[@boi3458]

@@TheOfficialHerb Dear god...

[@WishMakers]

@@TheOfficialHerb thank you for picking the most meme touhou fan song as a microtonal example

[@TheAdvertisement]

Zun is a mad genius with the powers of music making program at his fingertips. I love how much emotions goes into every single one of his hundreds of songs.

[@tacticalguy6473]

I like how we analyse the music to its bone, meanwhile the Artist is "haha lmao, that's sounds good amma add it in"

[@TheWorstNoob]

While drunk it is

[@Professor_Utonium_]

This is why I honestly don't like music theory channels. I'm not good at playing music, but I'm always able to explain what music is trying to convey without having to get all technical about it.

[@Naku_u]

@@Professor_Utonium_ music theory serves for a deeper understanding of music its not for everyone and is frankly unneeded but it is cool if you can get into it

[@electroflame6188]

Well music theory is descriptive in nature so it makes sense

[@SianaGearz]

@@Professor_Utonium_ What music is trying to convey is not the point, you could ask an imbecile. THE WHOLE POINT is HOW it does this. If you are learning composition and music theory, then you have to learn this kind of thing. And if you don't like it here, then why are you here?

[@metaknightmare1234]

What's really incredible is also that basically all of ZUN's music knowledge is all self taught. So all of this wacky cool shit he does with his chord progressions and key changes is stuff he just figured out how to do himself.

[@Metacious]

Now this is something I've wanted for years. Thank you Also, the first time I listened Flandre's theme I spent a week listening to it. Around 300 times without getting bored, day and night. It was 2008. And the funniest part is I learned this song exists because of Roland McDonald.

[@iota-09]

Me personally, i listened for 24 hours straight a 3 track playlist: u.n.owen her, night of nights and... Running in the 90s. Yup. I never regret the day i did that, but i also won't do it again.

[@vyllix8546]

that ronald mcdonald vid is pure nightmare material

[@user-bq4cs3dn2k]

just a reminder ZUN made more than 500 original oriental songs by himself

[@GastricProblemsHaver]

That's actually not that many if you only consider composition but the music industry even in Japan divides the labor between composer and arrangers, along with programmers etc; a composer's output can be a hundred songs a year but they don't have to also do all the programming and arrangement like ZUN does.

[@robotdude2206]

My guy's talking about key changes and I'm just here like, "There are no buses in Gensokyo."

[@Ravenslofty]

To be fair if you can fly you don't really need buses. Or cars. Or trains.

[@altos5069]

baka, baka ~

[@fffeeelll7745]

@@Ravenslofty you do need trains, but not for transportation

[@YataTheFifteenth]

@@Ravenslofty you need trains to _destroy your enemies into little bits and pieces and maybe even less_

[@6dm978]

Are you trying to mix without using buses, fool!?

[@linkkicksu]

One of my favourite parts of Necrofantasia is that motif riff at the end of the song that sets up the loop.

[@benjaminlee985]

Hartmann's Youkai Girl also has an interesting change in time signature - it starts in 7/8 but then shifts into 4/4 for the more melodic section. This shows up in a couple of other Touhou tracks as well, like Youkai Mountain (Aya's theme), which flips back and forth between 3/4 and 4/4.

[@Moinsdeuxcat]

F#7 > F is the usual tritsub of perfect cadences :) So Zun has used three kinds of pivot chords : * those acting like IV>I for the next key * those acting like V>I for the next key * those acting like bII>I for the next key. What a madman !

[@hat-desu]

7:36 ~ 9:15 Thank you for fully breaking down this part of the song. Necrofantasia was the piece that ultimately convinced me to go down the Touhou rabbit hole so many years back, and if it wasn't the song as a whole, it was this exact part. Even til now it's one of my favorite tracks (the context helped), and it's that defining moment of buildup and payoff that I wait for in every fan arrangement of the song. I'm also glad you covered the topic in this way too - it would be impossible to highlight even a fraction of the songs in the series in a reasonable-length video, but this overall take on ZUN's style makes me want to go relisten to my favorite tracks myself...

[@zekekehrman7217]

It also nice to mention that Hartmann’s yokai girl is actually a palindrome song where it is the (relativity) the same backwards as it is forward

[@goldensky382]

I'll be straight with you guys: my introduction to the Touhou series was thru the Japanese Ronald McDonald remix of U.N. Owen Was Her. I can't be the only one...right??

[@TheNodfullNod]

Mine was a piano cover of night of nights

[@lakuronekobaka3951]

mine was thanks to vocaloid and bad apple

[@SeikuroS]

Ran ran RUUUUUU

[@zturtle1630]

That was a lot of people's first introduction to Touhou. You are DEFINITELY not alone

[@kimgkomg]

Who's Owen?

[@pinkdaruma8942]

That section right before Necrofantasia loops back is my favorite part of the track. the song feels like it's getting higher and higher just like a trick of shading in a painting can make it look like it's glowing.

[@theolabbate1611]

Finally, giving ZUN's genius musical writing the love it deserves ! Great video, thank you !

[@ASkeleton]

0:30 Excuse me? Hundreds? Oh dude. You have no idea.

[@ShimmeringSpectrum]

So the music is as complex and intricate as the bullet patterns within the games? Very cool.

[@jcharr1]

I was big time into Touhou back in college in the 2000s. Necrophantasia’s one of my favorite songs in the entire series before I just kinda fell out of it around 2010. This may sound dumb, but the series really helped me learn about getting better at something through practice.

[@L4Vo5]

I'm glad that for the earlier Touhou games there are official midi versions of the songs that are mostly the same to their actual rendered counterparts. For some reason I've always loved listening to Necrofantasia's absolutely crazy bass line in isolation.

[@gansmith]

I am no music expert at all, but I always looked at "Hartmann's Youkai Girl" as an improved execution to the chaotic sentiment "U.N. Owen" tried to express in EoSD. I always found "U.N Owen" too chaotic (specially the intro) that some parts can sound like random noise, "Hartmann's Youkai Girl" on the other hand takes a theme with a similar chaotic mindset, but executes it beautifully from start to finish.

[@Zelinkokitsune]

If you look at it I think ZUN kinda did similar refinements of U.N. Owen with the various mixes presented on the Soundtrack CDs as each seems to smooth out some of the issues with the EOSD incarnation of the song.

[@YamiAi]

diagree, the chaotic is the point

[@edwardcardinal4328]

There are so many polyrhythms in Touhou music it's almost impossible for your heart to not pound to the rhythm of **something** you're currently hearing while you're frantically dodging circles

[@autumnalfragrance5059]

At the start of this video i was like "please do Necrofantasia please do necrofantasia" and I was not disappointed. Thanks, you made my day.

[@TyrannyStudios]

Very cool. I had a student of mine introduce me to the music for these games a couple months ago. I was delighted to see this in my video feed this morning. Thank you! Always appreciate what you do. Retired (hobbyist) gamer, full-time guitarist now.

[@TyrannyStudios]

As of this week, she's also attempting to learn a Tohou song (not sure which one), and play it on guitar. Had to break it to her that I doubt most of the music was played by human hands... it's so fast (sometimes)!

[@samuffert]

I've literally waited for this since the moment i subbed and it's finally here AND it didnt disappoint, thanks for not picking the "low hanging fruit" and gave love to Hartman's Youkai Girl and Necrofantasia And for those looking for more i recommend Alice in Wonderland (From Mystic Square), Emotional Skyscraper (From Unidentified Fantastical Object) and Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly (From Dolls in Pseudo Paradise) PS: People asking for U.N Owen are basic

[@TheHeavyModd]

Adding some great stage themes to the mix because they're awesome At the End of Spring Frozen Eternal Capital Interdimensional Voyage of a Ghostly Passenger Ship (for the pop sound effect) Centennial Festival for Magical Girls

[@princeapoopoo5787]

I mean, Hartmann's Youkai Girl and Necrofantasia aren't exactly unknown tunes, but I get what you're saying. I feel like U N. Owen has become too much of a meme that is taken seriously. Kind of a shame, because it honestly is a bop. Even though I prefer Flandre's stage music, truth be told.

[@samuffert]

@@princeapoopoo5787 Honestly, every touhou track is obscure in comparison to U.N. Owen, Bad Apple and Flowering Nights

[@RealityMasterRogue]

U.N. Owen is the worst touhou song. Desire drive is probably one of my personal favorites, as well

[@WillowEpp]

Necrofantasia isn't low-hanging fruit?

[@mortuslumus2255]

Comment credit of HertzDevil, on the extended version of Eternal Spring Dream. Thought I'd repost here as I found this really insightful. "Take invisible moon's intro chord progression: Fm - Am - G♭m - C/E (f: i - ♯iii - ♭ii - V6) transpose two whole tones higher, replace the first chord with the submediant of the parallel major, put the third chord in second inversion, replace the last chord with a 5-6 voice leading (inserting a leading-tone chord), put the last chord in root position, and it should become F♯m - C♯m - B♭m/F - G♯dim - E (a: ♯vi - ♯iii - ♭ii64 - ♯vii° - V) this "zun turnaround" has also appeared in doll judgement and necro-fantasy. it embodies some of the best nonfunctional harmonies in touhou osts (don't even get me started on explaining that part in sanae's stage theme)"

[@ronelm2000]

I really want 8-bit to cover Sanae's Stage Theme; it's really profound how many layers of composition are stacked in there.

[@weeb8812]

the first song he talks about, hartmanns youkai girl is my absolute favourite touhou music, so happy

[@robind506]

touhou?? on my favorite music channel?? must be my lucky day

[@PunLlarena]

I absolutely didn't understand anything, I don't get music theory, I'm just here for Touhou music. Hi.

[@ougi_rk]

You got me

[@catchy9665]

Same. Hello

[@mistyterrainn]

Touhou music is so undervalued for its theory!! Thank you so much for doing this!

[@aeriumsoft]

we need more touhou music theory vids

[@TheWorstNoob]

ZUN making music: *B E E R* moar *B E E R !*

[@muhammadrizqinuraziz7517]

god damn! now im not sure if ZUN is drunk or a genius when making the soundtrack for his game

[@Chaosrunepownage]

He was actually drunk when creating The Fantastic Legend of Tohno!

[@iota-09]

Likely both from what i heard.

[@three9855]

He’s self taught, I’d wager he composes more on gut feeling than from a theoretical mindset.

[@LotusHearted]

@@Chaosrunepownage Wait, was this confirmed? I need to know.

[@YataTheFifteenth]

@@LotusHearted I think it was implied in PCB's music room.

[@AgentLayla526]

holy shit necrofantasia is one of my all time favourites so you analysing it is *N I C E*

[@Lukz243]

8-bit music theory did Touhou. I am SHOOK. But also I felt more curious on listening to the series OST

[@eithenexr8322]

Omg an episode about touhou never thought that will be happening !! I am so happy right now (sorry for the eventual mistakes i am french)

[@illyon1092]

now this video is a very welcome surprise, and thank you for the insight you've given us. There's a multitude of tracks I'd love to see analysed, but that'd be content for a whole channel so you won't see me complaining.

[@Josh_Fredman]

I really appreciate the longer excerpts of music, which provide critical context for understanding what's happening!

[@Kyleology]

Oh shit, this is the one game series I wanted you to cover. Thank you so much!

[@Alexander-oh8ry]

8:30 F#7 could also be interpreted as a Tritone Substitution for the following F

[@Alexander-oh8ry]

Hi there again. Just noticed that at 7:11, that chord should be an E7 instead of G# halfdim.

[@Basilisks666]

ok, a friend sent me your video cuz we were speaking abt how awesome touhou was and I honestly didn't expect so much. I knew ZUN was amazing but not to this extent. Apart from all the rest, what I liked the most is the use of the pivot chord to change smoothly from B major to C sharp minor.

[@gonzo2834]

I’m really interested in the music theory of Touhou music! For instance, the song because princess inada is scolding me has like four key changes in the first twenty seconds. Great video!

[@Baxdronn4]

You low-balled the amount of remixes floating around on the internet by probably a few hundred thousand. I'm almost joking, there are so many remixes and arrangements of nearly every song in nearly any genre you can imagine, and it is very worth diving into if you want some good music to listen to for several hundred hours. Also thank you so much for covering Hartmann's Youkai Girl, one of my absolute favorite songs across the entire series.

[@veliest1886]

"Several hundred hours" Laughs in terabyte of flac files

[@DavidMazarro]

I've been waiting for a video analyzing Touhou music. Awesome!

[@naif9464]

All of my 4-year and ongoing journey started on that one fateful day when I decided to listen to the video “Death waltz” never have I ever regretted that day.

[@HyperVanilo]

And to this day some people still believe Death Waltz is the remix of UN Owen was Her

[@Ultraelectromagnetic]

i come back to this video a lot. more touhou pls?

[@legless8528]

This caught me off guard so hard. I loved playing Touhou piano arranges back in the day (I was a massive fanboy in like idk 2013-2014), and noticed a lot of these elements in the tracks... Hartmann's Youkai Girl was one of the coolest ones for sure. The OST was always the best part of the games, and I'm so glad that after so many years people are finally paying attention to how much of a genius ZUN is in all respects. Also massive nostalgia. Very fitting as I've recently actually started picking up scoring in Touhou games and other STGs... some of them have very interesting OSTs as well (CAVE games like Dodonpachi and Mushihimesama, or even the eXceed series) I always thought there was some magic in the way these video games' music was constructed... maybe it's the feeling of absolute concentration when trying to survive at all costs. I don't know. Either way, this video makes me so happy. I always feel such a rush when douijn culture gets some kind of recognition for a large audience. It makes me feel like my interests were worth something. Relatable?

[@ElZenom]

Oh yes, I absolutely agree with this. I played Touhou music on piano and realized that I shifted key a lot more than usual. I believe Kobito of the Shining Needle shows this easier than others although I might be wrong on this.

[@user-nz4ql5vz3l]

東方についてここまで詳しく解説してくれてありがとうございます。 原作及び原曲は日本人ですら知らない人が多いので、東方についてみんなもっと知ってほしいです！

[@Prds_Drgx]

I love music theory, I love touhou, but I was waiting for someone more knowledgable to sit down and talk about it... Subscribingggg~

[@Prds_Drgx]

OH and you talked about my favorite song of all time??? Wow I can die now, necrofantasia

[@tubebrocoli]

I never clicked a thumbnail so fast after seeing it XD

[@sashapinesnguyenhienhoa8003]

Zun trumpet and beer have rule the world i pretty sure a train about to hit some one today

[@TazTheYellow]

I'm kind of surprised that when bringing up Necofantasia, you didn't bring up its relationship to Necro-Fantasy, also from Perfect Cherry Blossom, Necro-Fantasy being a less frantic and more subdued track by comparison. Personally, I actually prefer Necro-Fantasy, but I acknowledge that this is something of an unpopular opinion among Touhou fans. Guess I'm just a pika of simpler tastes.

[@adamxue6096]

Necro fantasy is my all time favorite, over Necrofantasia and all others. ...that said, then he is almost obligated to also talk about Magical Astronomy and Ghost club, then Necrofantasia AoCF ver. Aka: it would start to get messy. Not to say its connection with Mataras stage 6 boss theme. ...and put withered leaf out there as well. The list go on and on!

[@TazTheYellow]

@@adamxue6096 Huh. Didn't recognize that Matara has a similar sort of climax in her Stage 6 Boss theme until you just mentioned it. That's interesting (and definitely much more so than all the random tracks that sound like U.N. freaking Owen).

[@adamxue6096]

There is a video, well, more like there's this person making touhou music collections where they at one point dumped all EX boss themes into one medley, together with all their themes. Upon the Medleys climax, it was Necrofantasia and then joined in by Okina Mataras stage 6 theme. It was kinda awesome, then it keeps going and goes through all the other ex boss themes. I kinda always knew that the two themes had a similar climax, but they actually sound so good together lol.

[@sosasees]

hopefully i won't forget to watch this video again before making my next music, because so far i have used key changes only as a simple anti-annoyance tool for music for unfinished and deleted video games: • step 1: play the whole song in the original key • step 2: play the whole song in a slightly higher key • step 3: repeat

[@corporalkills]

Oh my god, my man did Touhou music. Life is now complete! Thank you for doing this; the music of Touhou is a huge part of my life.

[@scotcheggable]

Now do yukaris theme from antimony of common flowers. I want to hear you talk about the fact that it has an actual train as the drums at one point

[@Aaa-vp6ug]

The last sentence sounds insane and I love it

[@poomplanichaya]

I will admit that I don't understand half the words said in this video but I really like it. Great job!!

[@DarkOverord]

So glad you've touched on Touhou

[@tokiko404]

TouHou Eurobeats hit different 🙏🏻😤

[@Lumenbell]

great video! i think it's also worth mentioning the way key changes in touhou music are almost always accompanied by changes in gameplay (like a midboss appearing, or a boss beginning a new attack), so the emotional intensity of the progression in his music is made even more intense by the way it synchronises with your progression through each section of gameplay. i think zun designs his games around the music he makes for them and it's really something beautiful to experience while playing my favourite key shift in all of touhou is probably the one at 3:10 in pure furies ~ whereabouts of the heart. the spellcard you have to dodge during that part of the song is so brutal and stressful and the sudden drop from a triumphant part of the song into this dark, sinister tone matches it so perfectly that i get chills every time i make it there, even after over 200 hours of playing the game. zun's skill at creating atmosphere is amazing

[@iota-09]

I go check the song, i reead the word "chills" and what do i get? Chicken skin exactly on the key change. I've never played that game and don't even know the character...

[@cesarleiva2443]

Omg I never though that someone can make a review of these. Amazing ! Thank u

[@beatsbycossack]

I've been waiting for you to do Touhou music ever since I started watching this channel. Touhou's soundtracks are among my favourite osts of all time and have been since I discovered Touhou in 2013.

[@Nazrininator]

The music is one reason why Touhou is amazing! I love it when people talk about Touhou, and you did an excellent job talking about the music theory of a couple of Touhou songs and why they sound spectacular!

[@rohinsequeira6931]

Necrofantasia has got to be a top 10 video game song of all time

[@magicbuster7188]

I like how he started with Hartmann's Youkai Girl which is the first theme that introduced me to the series so many years ago and still love it to this day!

[@michaelhn11]

These IV->I and V->I cadences into new keys givin me goosebumps, so smooth 😩

[@nazumi012]

Oh hey, I was thinking about Hartmann's Youkai Girl when I was watching your "Odd Time Signatures in VGM" video Nice to see Touhou music getting more attention :D

[@Electrosa]

I would absolutely *love* to see you do a solo video on either Emotional Skyscraper ~ Cosmic Mind or Kobito Of The Shining Needle ~ Little Princess. Those are two of ZUN's absolute best works and Emotional Skyscraper in particular has an incredible execution of that "half step up" principle you mentioned.

[@WishMakers]

This analysis is super cool! I'm fairly new to studying music theory as a whole so learning about what ZUN's "standard" progression does in a functional sense was very neat. I also learned very quickly that ZUN changes keys in songs far more than I remembered.

[@Composer_Piggy]

Man I could listen to you analyze touhou music all day