U.N. Owen Was Her Explained: Mysteries and McRolls

[@siberianhusky4320]

Ran Ran Ru~!

[@OlderUhwNoob]

!~uR naR naR

[@lembi6264]

I do it whenever I'm happy! Or tend to lend people to their death, Ran Ran Ru~!

[@MelCMlol]

@@OlderUhwNoob did seija put the word in reverse?

[@japaneseronaldmcdonaldm.u.5789]

‎

[@Nick-yj7un]

korega?

[@hannahhdrawz]

Here's just a liiiittle correction to Flandre. Flandre isn't evil, she's not bloodthirsty. She's just mentally unstable, she has a hard time controlling herself, she's only playing with Marisa and Reimu in EOSD because she knows they have powers. She even offers Reimu cookies when they're done! Anyway, I enjoyed this video alot. I finally know the true origin of UN Owen, my favourite song!

[@HyperVanilo]

It's also confirmed that Flandre is an introvert

[@hannahhdrawz]

@@HyperVanilo Doesn't make her a psychopath. She's an introvert because she doesn't have much social skills due to her isolation in which in her child-like brain, proceeds to prefer her room because that's where she's always resided in.

[@gansmith]

Nice to see more people understand that Flan is much more chill than casual fans made her up to be. She is not a psycho, she is just dangerous because she plays too rough.

[@hannahhdrawz]

@@gansmith Exactly.

[@Percussionist_In_The_Walls]

@@hannahhdrawz What if Flandre wasn't locked in a room for most of their life?

[@Itz_Sophia19]

If you notice, one of Flandre’s spell cards is named “and there will be none”

[@gavinsepicgaming9835]

I'm pretty sure its and then there was none which is the name of a book where the name U.N Owen comes from (he said it in the beginning kinda?)

[@SoicBR]

I can't hear the song without "hearing" Ronald's noises anymore

[@kyuuketsukinonamida]

*G I V E T H E T I M E S T A M P*

[@toortyb]

oh nyo i cant unhear it nyoooo

[@poledra4153]

That's why i never listen to Ronald version. I skip it when it's in a video.

[@Jackariah-N.]

I think of the macross frontier version every single time

[@fumo-fumo-fumo]

Therapy helped me wash them out, you might be too late though...

[@yogsothoth915]

That "Vampires can't go through rain" thing is actually a classic. Vampires can't pass running water, that one is actually very important in the original Dracula. It's the whole reason Van Hellsing and crew could track him down Dracula. The big ones are sunlight, moving water, fear the cross, and must be invited into the home. Garlic was mentioned but I don't actually remember it working. (Also fun bit of trivia In Jojo series 1 Dio's coffin being carried onto the ship by confused hirelings also pays a fun tribute to that aforementioned scene in Dracula)

[@Mesruksi]

the garlic didn’t work because Lucy’s mother removed it from Lucy’s room and opened up the window a little bit (because of course she did)

[@hajkie]

The sunlight thing is a recent relatively modern thing with vampires though. Vampires was never written to succumb to sunlight, and some didnt even have weakness to sunlight at all, bram's dracula for example. Infact, in a recent manga, foul detective satori, by zun himself, flandre even points this out, when satori says she lowered the light for flandres sake, but flandre just says thats only sunlight, and sunlight isnt really that bad either way.

[@deretti347]

​@@hajkie Bram's Dracula has a weakness to sunlight, he always attack in the night in the book. I don't know exactly what would happen but at least he could not be in the full form during the day

[@hajkie]

@@deretti347 Weakness... maybe arguable... but he does walk around in sunlight in the book.

[@gansmith]

The Touhou boom didn't come from the McRoll itself, the boom was mostly rooted to the early days of 4chan which often looked at 2chan for the latest anime related trends and during this time Touhou was HUGE in 2chan. UN Owen/McRoll is one of the trifecta of big imports videos from 2chan and Nico Nico Douga. The other two were Night of Nights remix and arguably Touhou's most famous video: Bad Apple. This is still an excellent video regarding the roots of such famous song rise to fame within and outside the fandom along a nice description of Flan's profile and mystery.

[@Megapig9001]

Huh, never heard that before, but I guess it makes the most sense. So I guess a more accurate way of thinking about the McRoll is that it helped make Touhou a lot more “mainstream” (well, relatively speaking)

[@gansmith]

@@Megapig9001 I mean, you are not incorrect per se, the McRoll was basically used as the Otaku's RickRoll in the west which did help propagate the franchise during its infancy. However, it did not do it alone because the Nights of Nights and Bad Apple videos were also quite popular in the 4chan side of the otaku underground. Upon further inspection to the history of the Touhou fandom in the west, it was 4chan that really brought Touhou to western audiences.

[@HyperVanilo]

I thought Yukkuri also the reason for Touhou popularity because they're from 2chan

[@FolstrimHori]

Wow, someone who actually knows their stuff when it comes to 4chan's meme history!

[@chaoticpoly]

touhou never bloomed in the west, it was mostly just popular in japan, and the few fans that made the memes and people who made those fumo videos, or at least thats how it felt to me edit: this also explained why most people hadn't known the meaning behind bad apple despite its spam and the silhouettes going onto different materials

[@potatoofmemes]

i always thought the high notes and the slight jingles in that "creepy" part of the song gave off a "shes just a cute little girl" kinda feeling and the lower notes in that part represent that shes a dangerous character also i guess Flandre herself is like a kitten, very playful but doesnt realize how hurtful her claws can be, claws being her bullets in this case

[@Fadlankhs]

Music, unifying people since the beginning of time

[@NareshSinghOctagon]

Now I just need someone to go over the other McRolls. Because holy crap there were a lot of them with the same energy as the first. Good job,mate.

[@youdonotcare]

Broke: Watching to listen about what the origin of U.N. Owen Was Her? is Woke: Watching to flex about what you already knew

[@clarissejunqueira1994]

When I was a kid, I was both scared and amused by the mc Donald's version of the song. It was my introduction to both touhou and ytpoops, so I'm glad I saw it in my Wii.

[@yuithekitsuneko]

Should have explained that her ability literally is being able to destroy anything she wants

[@joshuaanderson1712]

Yes, she's not trying to hurt, she's just playing. Unfortunately she doesn't have very good control due to the hundreds of years of being confined.

[@nobody7204]

"Why go through all this effort to stop a tiny vampire from leaving the mansion? Well... *shows her easiest patterns*

[@u.n.latias4612]

McRoll is my second favorite Touhou meme, the first one is Chargeman Ken! XD

[@VersilvaBloopah_VB9]

5:48 I just found out that she also has spell card "Secret "And Then Will There Be None?"", which is also proof that she has connection to that novel.

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

When i first saw the Bad apple video uploaded i already knew you were gonna do videos on the big three, maybe not Night of Nights it doesnt exactly have much story to tell, but i knew you were gonna make a vid on U.N. Owen was her, this song just has so many remixes, covers and parodies, some probably more popular than the original that you just cant not make a "Explained" video on it, i also really enjoyed the Bad apple video and id really love more of that kinda content on Touhou. currently premiering in 24 hours expecting to see the story of the McRoll, hopefully some clarification between Death waltz and Last brutal sister, and of course you voice cracking, which i will keep a counter on. Anyways awesome video in advance :D

[@kaerithmallock]

The "e" at the end of Flandre is not pronounced and just for the aesthetic, it's a french/belgian name, so it's 'dr' and not "dreh".

[@HyperVanilo]

I still prefer Flandreh, Flander is not a girly enough

[@kaerithmallock]

​@@HyperVanilo There's no der... :(

[@HyperVanilo]

@@kaerithmallock Yeah but you pronounce it as 'Flander', right?

[@kaerithmallock]

@@HyperVanilo No, if nothing is written between two consonants then there's no e or eh sound added between them. It's written dre and pronounced dr, like in cassandre, alexandre, léandre etc... Native english people have difficulties to make this kind of sound because they are used to use it in beggining or middle of words, but not at the end where they would add sounds, if you think about "BRag","aPRil","CRime","hyDRa", you don't add sound, it's the same.

[@virtuallylightblue]

Wait so i've been saying it wrong the whole time?

[@ziongamer6905]

I’ll admit, this is how I found the touhou series back in like 2014? I was in middle school and ended up staying up all the time listening to these remixes, Fan songs and official touhou songs It was a great time😅

[@DeltaPie]

ayy thanks for the shoutout Great video as always. You know, your point about the fun part reminds me of the Caramelldansen from Another Room video with Flandre on it (RIP the original upload, which I had discovered before my descent into Touhou). It combines the with the energy of the song with what can now be considered nostalgic.

[@Alice_Haukea]

I admittedly don't really know that much about the Touhou franchise as I never played the games. I did watch one of the anime things. I forget what the title for it was, but it was neat. That version of Sakuya is fuking fire. Seeing her be all confident thinking she'll kill Reimu with no trouble at all, only to get KO'd herself was intense. And then later seeing Reimu 1v2 the scralet twins was cool. ANYWAYS, I love the Touhou music as a whole. U.N Owen Was Her, did this song have lyrics to originally as well, or are all the lyric versions just fan made? I like the versions that the youtube group "EastNewSound" does for Touhou. The lyrics for this song really capture that mentally unstable, yet innocent playful personality. I kinda feel like Flandre isn't evil per say, she just sees everyone as a person to play with and her idea of playing will usually result in killing them. And then in her mind, her play friend, her "toy", broke. I then recently fell in love that song "A seeping Bloodline; Prison of Lunacy". That song just screams Flandre and to me, it maps out Flandre's decent into lonely insanity due to being stuck in the basement for so many years. I wish I knew more about Touhou in general especially to understand the meaning and lore to the few songs I REALLY like. U.N Owen was Her Rot in Hell A seeping Bloodline; Prison of Lunacy Black Lotus Those are my current top songs from Touhou. (I assume they are all touhou)

[@HyperVanilo]

The anime mentioned is Fantasy Kaleidoscope and yes it's fanmade

[@teddyrichard1488]

i love how in the thumbnail, "ronald" isnt actually ronald, he's just one on flan's four of a kind clones dressed up as ronald

[@Spawnoutofhere]

I remember watching mcroll when I was younger and it scared the living shit out of me but I really liked the song/theme and I watched it again like 4 years ago and now I’m a big touhou fan

[@TheBetter_LeechPilot]

Thanks for this precise and compact explanation. I don't really see many actually analyzing the song itself, starting from the name, the rhythm and the very essence of what it is and what it came to be. I guess I didn't really realize but needed this for quite a while. Touhou has evolved so much with the same history over the years that it has incorporated deeply within internet culture without the understanding of so many. I knew Touhou stuff from way longer than I actually entered the community, and this is actually really cool to get it now. I'll now go check out the analyzation for Night of Night's because I'm sure it'll be pretty interesting as well.

[@rockyjmoon3]

Let’s go? One of my favorite Touhou songs of all time!

[@TorrentialStardust]

The rain makes sense, Vampires can’t cross or come into contact with running water. This probably wouldn’t stop them from crossing a footbridge but it’s been a thing since before Dracula

[@Pepella]

I've been a Touhou fan for years now, but never even knew what UN Owen was or the story behind it. I realize that the song might have even brought me to Touhou in the first place, since it was popular in YTPs I grew up watching. Can't say this is one of my favorite tracks from EoSD, but I have much more appreciation for it now!

[@HyperVanilo]

You can read ZUN's comments on the musics he composed on touhouwiki, he specifically said the UN Owen is stands for Una Nancy Owen

[@HyperVanilo]

"This is U.N. Owen (Una Nancy Owen). Only people who understand it understand please. The original is quite old. (About 70 years ago?) The reason why I name this is when thinking in terms of transcribing alphabet letters of Owen, it can be linked to Flandre who is an unknown being. The ninth spell card is a parody of that." - ZUN

[@scriggins3263]

GOOD SHIT MEGA 👏👏👏 ALWAYS ROOTING FOR YOU

[@duccline]

thank you so much for this i could not have asked for a better explanation

[@NareshSinghOctagon]

Ah yes,my humble words be coming true. I've been waiting for this. Albeit it's going to be at 00:00 AM in two and a half hours time.

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

same

[@capitão_paçoca]

Thank you for your videos. This and the Bad Apple!! video makes me more and more interested in Touhou, Imma play it soon.

[@Rio_1111]

Search up "1&1 insanity". It's done like the McRoll, but with a german meme. (And imo better, but that might be bias, because this one introduced me to the song)

[@Liz_k562]

Nice of Flan to give Reimu cookies after she fought with her ^ ^

[@KuromiScarlet5030]

😊🍪🍪

[@stevencurtis7157]

The first time I found "McRoll" on KZbin, the title was in Japanese with the only English being "Ronald McDonald Madness." I was used to YTPs, so I didn't even realize for quite a while that there was even music behind it. Once I did, I listened hard but whatever was left from being mixed and bitcrushed by the low quality of KZbin at the time was too hard to hear, so I had to figure out where the description had the song title, and then I fell into the Touhou rabbit hole.

[@ideac.]

I only found out about that song a year ago And every time i listen to it, it feels like im back in the 2000s

[@nonenoninomae]

Ran Ran Ru was my first meme. My introduction to Touhou. It means a lot for me.

[@regularshowman3208]

0:07 Wait don't tell me I know this one- And then they get a letter from someone calling herself Beatrice the Golden Witch, right?

[@NotAGoodUsername360]

You make the Megalovania comparison, but we wouldn't even have Undertale as we know it without the McRoll, as Toby Fox was a shitposter in the mid-late 2000s and it was his exposure to Touhou through the McRoll that inspired Undertale's bullet hell gameplay. Toby even explicitly references the McRoll with Flowey's pitch shifted "That's a wonderful idea!" line being taken from an English Ronald McDonald commercial, same as the McRoll.

[@Unoriginality_Incarnate_stupid]

I'm currently researching the series so thank you for this video E

[@okuufallout]

So how's your journey so far?

[@Unoriginality_Incarnate_stupid]

@@okuufallout little progress cus I'm too lazy to find English dubs and shit So uh yah I'm going to die now

[@okuufallout]

@@Unoriginality_Incarnate_stupid ...If you're looking for anime, then I'll gladly show you the door lol. Also good luck finding English dubbed Touhou stuff, I have yet to see anything like that.

[@Unoriginality_Incarnate_stupid]

@@okuufallout damn I'm gonna have to learn Japanese then

[@naomitumamac2910]

vampire trapped in a basement? serious alucard vibes right here

[@HyperVanilo]

Not really trapped, she is an introvert

[@jpmz]

Love this videos explaining touhou songs

[@supernintendogames1]

Maybe un owen was the friends we made along the way

[@izayoi3035]

Ara Ara! How playfully delightful. Are you my new playmate?

[@KuromiScarlet5030]

Wut?!

[@tewiwii]

I love Touhou so much

[@JohnDoe-mi8qr]

Flandre doesn't know how deadly she is

[@Meocontuki]

the thumbnail... wow, very Ronald, such hambagar, so cursed, much meme lol Edit: and thank you for using the correct name for the remix instead of that cursed name

[@betapsyrainn]

It's perfect the explanation you gave, keep it up

[@elliottb7009]

i found the mcrolls just letting youtube go free and taking me on wild rides back in the day. i think it would have been very close to the release of the video when i found it. got me into lucky star also and caramel dansen. i played touhou because of this video. bit hard for me back then.

[@CajonPassStudios]

8:00 The video was actually uploaded between New Year's Eve and Day 2008.

[@flofloflofloflor]

There's a 1 minute & 38 second video titled "U.N.ドナルドは彼なのか?" (U.N. Donald was him?) published in 6 December 2007, i haven't seen the actual video itself since niconico is down but it's probably the first instance of the mcroll

[@XHibikiALICE]

some people say that the song u.n own was her is very scary, literally I set that song as my alarm ringtone lol

[@MateoDomingo487]

10:19 that wasn't Flandre laughing it was a little girl laughing

[@davidnewhart2533]

7:50 What's the name of this one? Edit: I just checked the description so I am good now.

[@Jackariah-N.]

I also remember when the wrong McDonald’s one came out that was like around the time it was a lot of like horror stories about Ronald like I’m standing in the alleyway like getting a cow and stuff like so I feel like this fits so perfectly to just like crunch these peoples buttons

[@Blitz-.-]

i had a whole touhou phase in middle school and never knew about the mx.roll.

[@wesss9353]

The opening sounded like the dark brotherhood in oblivion

[@tirzahroseroot]

Why did I get a McDonalds ad right before the section about the McRoll? 😂😂😂

[@oshy3385]

Wait so you're telling me he wasn't saying Dan Dan Di, but instead was saying Ran Ran Ru?!

[@egaag]

Your videos are extremely informative and entertaining!!! Instant sub. I just wanna hear the videos get a little louder? Or possibly clearer with done mastering? Both maybe? I'd love to hear these videos sound as professional as the script and editing!!! I understand shit is expensive, so don't feel like I'm telling you to buy a new mic, just make the videos a bit louder or mixed/mastered a little more efficiently?

[@Imgone12321]

I listened to the Ronald version on DAY 1 and I have been confused to THIS DAY

[@manoftheocean6988]

"IT IS THE BANEBLADE!"

[@dracmeister]

"Brutal Last Sister - S" Was also, what I believe, is a reference to True Last Bosses at the time (Dodonpachi (Hibachi) and Ketsui (Evaccania DOOM) come into mind) where they have super fast-paced and very-hyped-up tracks.

[@HyperVanilo]

Considering beatMARIO also did some shmups remix before Last Brutal

[@hatsunemikuwilson4787]

Have you seen the version where McDonald's take over miku she becomes mcmiku who then takes over all her friends.

[@starryeyes1190]

Also relevant to the book connection is that And Then There Were None is named and structured after an old nursery rhyme/minstrel song about a bunch of deaths (though it has undergone minor changes over the years since the original song referred to certain racist slurs, so you can imagine that wouldn’t exactly fly today) with each death in the book lining up with the song lyrics. So another solid connection with Flandre’s childish nature.

[@Jackariah-N.]

OK you actually just broke my life right there when it was u.n owen unowen unknown.

[@theretrodragonyope]

I am here, because I only knew U.N Owen from 'Ten Little Indians' (original title of the book) and did not think it would have an electronic style song. Now that I know it is a Touhou song basing its title on the book, my confusion doth lessens. As well as my knowledge on the Touhou fandom grows.

[@tarragon112]

5:33 "You have no idea what she's going to do" people who grind for no bomb 1ccs:

[@deltasquad8817]

This is very interesting. I found out this song 2 days ago

[@S84-b1g]

Idk why but this whole Mcroll and Touhou stuff made me question my existence. Honestly, it's ridicoulous how something as stupid (yet funny) as a Mcroll and as complex as Touhou gave me a frickin existential crisis. But now that I understand it better, it doesn't seem that mind bogling anymore. So thank you for your explanation. In a way, it saved me from this existential crisis my mind made up.

[@navii8547]

Flandre is the Jevil of Touhou, change my mind

[@HyperVanilo]

More like Clownpiece

[@KuromiScarlet5030]

Clownpiece is more suitable than me

[@kaedeakamatsudr]

THE THUMBNAIL WITH RONALD MCDONALD I-

[@dungeonmaster0656]

Flandre gameplay: haha rainbow bullet go brrrrr Flandre lore:

[@y0urmaj3sty]

NO BC IM READING AND THEN THERE WERE NONE FOR CLASS?!?!?

[@Megapig9001]

Book's sick

[@_Tzer]

Since you mentioned megalovania and un owen was her in the same sentence the internet has to mix 2 of the best genres of music together.

[@uboa8060]

Literallynoone did this already

[@_Tzer]

@@uboa8060 too late kid i learned it right after i watched the video

[@tucannYT]

Fantastic video, but is nobody going to mention the video "U.N. Owen was Donarudo" by brickfilms1954? It's McRoll, but 10X better, with the Ronald McDonald voice clips being pitch shifted correctly to match the notes of the song.

[@BGDMusic]

5:09 i interpreted the song name as saying U.N. Owen was flandre, as in flandre was her, but idk, plus her being a dangerous and murderous vampire kinda fits to an extent honestly i knew about these references to and there were none (fun fact: if you're bored, look up the original title of the novel), but this video was pretty neat

[@bvs4064]

“The McRoll” Me : You mean the *RICK* roll?

[@QuadrupleABattery]

Vera Claythorne's death gave me chills when reading and it stills gives me chills watching this video

[@pickler_pickler]

Great video dude

[@jamesmapper3456]

*Ten little Soldier Boys went out to dine,* *One choked his little self and then there were nine.* *Nine little Soldier Boys sat up very late,* *One overslept himself and then there were eight.* *Eight little Soldier Boys travelling in Devon,* *One said he'd stay there and then there were seven.* *Seven little Soldier Boys chopping up sticks,* *One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.* *Six little Soldier Boys playing with a hive,* *A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.* *Five little Soldier Boys going in for law,* *One got in Chancery and then there were four* *Four little Soldier Boys going out to sea,* *A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.* *Three little Soldier Boys walking in the zoo,* *A big bear hugged one and then there were two.* *Two little Soldier Boys sitting in the sun,* *One got frizzled up and then there was one.* *One little Soldier Boy left all alone,* *He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.*

[@hmurdock]

Just found out about Touhou a few months ago through a band called Foreground Eclipse. I had no idea this meme I saw 15 years ago was from Touhou, I feel I wasted 15 years of my life!

[@donaldw3231]

I just got McRolled for the first time ever a couple days ago. Glad to find some info on it! 😅

[@OatmealGrillBlazer]

the MCroll was the first KZbin video I have seen or at least remember I was like very young I was in elementary did not know what touhou was until middle school I'm in high school now

[@toortyb]

really great

[@korenzissu3531]

Horika Horika Horika Horika Horika

[@HyperVanilo]

*koreka

[@Jackariah-N.]

I also would like to mention that the other versions of an oh and we’re out before the Ronald McDonald one so I think it was again more of like a at the Time modern meme trend

[@sillirfour]

Oh this song is rlly cool!! (learning the backstory) why am i living

[@hesotate]

I hear death waltz at the end

[@HyperVanilo]

Nice joke

[@xlspeedfreaklx7871]

There is a black MIDI version of this song on piano. There was only one group of people who where able to play this, it took 14 people over the same piano to play it. Just like that boss fight, the song is impossible…

[@AlpacaMan82]

UNOwen def great song, my pfp agrees, but the song that got me into Touhou, was actually Silver Forests "Tsurupettan"

[@r-yv5uz]

I find it ironic how when I clicked on this video, I got a McDonald's ad.

[@kavinaderrow3269]

I found the song thanks to a speedpaint of perhaps the zaniest character in the SCP canon; Dr. Bright.

[@virtuallylightblue]

ok dnc

[@koimeme]

Dr bright is not allowed to make people touhou fans via someone playing U.N owen was her in a speedpaint video :)

[@SubzeroEclipse]

Ran Ran Ru!

[@Dreigonix]

Ah yes, “Death Waltz by John Stump”.

[@spunchbob]

heroine is my favorite character from touhou project

[@fumo_enjoyer9]

It the memes, Jack.

[@LeafiSoft]

6:56 in the video with Ronald McDonald was so random, lol xD

[@Bee-wm6my]

ive always been curious about this!

[@kai_lordofwolves8358]

Hey Flandre and I booth love the basement we might get along

[@Icenri]

I see you read my comment in your Bad Apple video

[@Annziyo]

0:36 omg it's gonna be 20 years old soon :doomerwojak:

[@vir2plus]

opppff.. don't say that too loud. it's making me reflect on my failed life