Touhou 9 is a pretty funny game

There seems to be a disturbing amount of flowers blooming. Reimu goes to find the source of this through the Phantasmagoria of Flower View race.
Wait, that's not what happened.

[@Merthlock]

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, whatever you celebrate I hope you're doing well! I want to branch out from Touhou and do more games I like for the next few videos, so I hope you'll still watch me despite that

[@Ezmxct]

Stay safe and have a good holiday, m8 👍

[@Enigmatic_Fella]

Don't worry we still support you and Merry Christmas to you too

[@Vito025]

Merry Christmas Merth!! I love your animations

[@junojun722]

Question: where did you get that touhou fire emblem rom?

[@Tanatopraxia_n]

merry christmas

[@internetlurker1850]

I find it funny how even the yama ran over Lily White, and Reimu running over Lily was not counted as one of her sins. Poor Lily.

[@chayudyodchit2872]

She did counting her act of shooting lily tho.

[@Hijiri_MIRACHION]

I'm guessing people must run over each other all the time in Gensokyo to the point of normalcy.

[@TheTestoyer]

Technically she ran over lily black

[@internetlurker1850]

@@TheTestoyer Of course the law runs over the black one

[@IchCharacter]

@@internetlurker1850 Yama sees in black and white, after all.

[@steweygrrr]

Eiki in canon: 6ft tall, quite calm Eiki in fanon: Angry chibi Eiki in game: difficulty selection? Lets ignore that and ramp it up to Lunatic.

[@abder200]

the idea of touhou 9 being represented as a mario kart game is absolutly brillant to me props to you

[@notme-ji5uo]

wait it isnt a story about racing?

[@user-od9zr8qq5d]

Touhou Fumo Racing though

[@xperiasony6309]

When I see this,I think it is Asphalt9💀

[@toutetsuyuumaa]

didint expect to see you here

[@ifritdiezel]

this is my favorite "touhou in a nutshell" series ever. the animation is very expressive and the small gags are great, like yuuka smiling after crushing lily in the same situation where reimu cringed

[@Chitose_]

ft. a lot of pc 98 references

[@BackupAccount255]

The ultimate: "we have MinusT at home" *(*proceeds to cease to exist...*

[@abder200]

Youmu just has the innate ability to give herself more frames in animation thats my headcanon now

[@brujebbush7269]

1:15 Oh shit guys, look. Aya was chosen to *shoot the bullet* :^)

[@depresane]

Yooo, good catch!

[@CSwizzleDizzle]

Wow, I can't believe Merth confirmed doing the STB just like that!

[@Nockgun]

@@CSwizzleDizzle STB? more like STDs

[@Bwoat3]

sexually transmitted bullets

[@Nick_works]

Love how you included PC 98. Gives that little bit extra to the world and Reimu's love for violence.

[@sviatoslavs.1305]

I know I'm late but... ... would you be so kind to quickly explain the lore? I'd read the wiki but usually I have free time on evenings.

[@rurihime4965]

@Sviatoslav S. The PC-98 Era stuff is the turtle Reimu is riding, Genji, whom she used to fly on before she could do it on her own, the girl at 5:02 and 9:15 is Mima, a vengeful spirit and the final boss of Touhou 2 and the scene at 8:07 is set in Mugenkan, a mansion Yuuka lived in Touhou 4 and the girl with the red dress is Elly, the gatekeeper (for reference Embodiment of Scarlet Devil is Touhou 6)

[@sviatoslavs.1305]

@@rurihime4965 alright, thanks; what about flashbacks in the... Magic Mirror, I guess?

[@sashi2887]

@@sviatoslavs.1305 That's Shinki's ability to read all the sins a person has committed in their life and judge them accordingly

[@sviatoslavs.1305]

@@sashi2887 I understood that (played the game, heh). I wondered about the PC-98 part right there, like what was Reimu doing during this era.

[@Burn_Angel]

I love how Youmu's joke is being animated incredibly fluid. As in, most parts are animatic-ish, but hers are high-effort.

[@yunochanishere8616]

I wonder what Yuuka showed on Youmu tho Maybe nsfw or Youmu gets eaten by Yuyuko on KKHTA

[@Merthlock]

It was the middle finger for having a better car than her

[@YuyuHakurei]

meanwhile I was at home eating cookies. =3

[@lunariansoup9635]

@@yunochanishere8616 oh lord not kkhta

[@Awesometdsplayer]

​@@lunariansoup9635 fishing rod

[@cecilliaphang23]

Perfect Christmas present! Poor Lily White, though I doubt she'd have any thought behind her eyes after what her brain has been through..

[@Interesting_Failure]

In case anyone wasn't aware, the AI in PoFV is basically "invulnerable until it decides to let itself get hit". What's actually happening on the AI side is mostly just for show.

[@ironmaster6496]

Wow that's.....wow

[@seb3082]

Not entirely true, the AI can still mess up, especially when up against Aya or Medicine

[@kennychen4838]

And if you’re playing extra mode that’s taken literally, as you get a timer that counts down while you’re shooting, and before said timer hits 0, the AI is straight up invincible. Did I mention you only get 1 hit, the AI does too, but with the timer…yeah.

[@Interesting_Failure]

@@seb3082 Interesting; so it's more like improbably good play until then? I'd been assuming it operated like a TASbot and would just frame-perfect around everything, if it even had a hitbox at all.

[@seb3082]

@@Interesting_Failure it’s technically not a TAS, a bit like it though. It’s basically a bot that operates in real time so yes, it’s definitely still able to make mistakes. Doesn’t discount the fact that the AI is an absolute beast at dodging though.

[@Kirby0189]

I was expecting Eiki to be the first person who doesn't run over Lily White, but nah. Poor Lily.

[@Set666Abominae]

5:08 I love the brief moment of care Reimu shows to Genjii before she immediately returns to the scheduled program of being a menace. It’s nice to see stuff like this, because the fandom tend to portray Reimu as utterly heartless, when in canon she’s got a (albeit not always visible) softer side.

[@Set666Abominae]

@@Oscurio-ek2wz is she trying to *kill* Marisa/Alice or Sakuya/Remilia though, or just rough them up like any other (perceived) villain? They directly address Reimu’s words vs her actions in Forbidden Scrollery, when she’s called out for not only not actually killing her targets, avoiding certain fights for want of not hurting the other party, and then going on to befriend almost everyone she supposedly “exterminated”. She admits as much to Marisa.

[@Oscurio-ek2wz]

@@Set666Abominae I think she's trying to play fight with Marisa in that fight but she's trying to genuinely kill Sakuya and Remilia

[@Dragooner7]

I expected cirno to just come crashing down at the end and be like "I'm the winner!!"

[@ironmaster6496]

Literally what i tought when Mima appeared

[@Burn_Angel]

YOU'RE WINNER

[@sviatoslavs.1305]

(Everyone resolves the flower incident) I sleep. (Cirno beats the final boss) REAL ICE

[@captainernest95]

7:27 looking these two with a smile is not about rival fight but also one of the best moments of these two long friendships

[@shinejnn2]

WYSI

[@elvismartinez9067]

Shiki face of "yo, what the fuck?" of what Reimu has done over the years. Is priceless.

[@DriftRookieDR]

The fact that you made it into a Mario Kart remake had me sokd on this; I love everything! The cars (Yuuka's Cruella-mobile, Youmu's "Lupin The Third" Fiat 500), Reimu committing freelance youkai murder, the subtle references and the gags! Truly a wonderful animation, kudos! EIKI-SAMAAAAA MY BELOVED-

[@LiterallyLiS]

9:48 Even Meiling swore at Reimu lol. Greatness is in the small details

[@LegendaryHedgieMii]

What did she say?

[@fadillah6014]

​@@LegendaryHedgieMiiis chinese word one, got it? China?

[@LegendaryHedgieMii]

@@fadillah6014 I really don't get it.

[@LancerinCompany]

Caution! Lily White is Approaching!

[@geeseispluralforgoose]

10:41’s dialogue was so funny to me for some reason. “You are the worst person I’ve met in Gensokyo.” 11:30

[@asderfly3915]

5:08 Her eyes...

[@seant1326]

Nice PC-98 references. That knife Mima wielded against Yuuka *had* to be the one she had in HRtP!

[@Cat-ev9dz]

The characters look very silly but also super expressive its so kewl

[@egeiscan5206]

4:33 8:49 12:39 time stamps for every time lily white has been run over by a vehicle

[@Koishi_Gurobutorotta]

The last one was a Lily black

[@egeiscan5206]

@@Koishi_Gurobutorotta isnt lily black just lily white cosplaying a yama ?

[@Aaa-vp6ug]

@@egeiscan5206yes

[@gunmunz]

2:36 Not Reimu's first, FAR from her last. (I think in canon, she starts or at least gets involved in 4 more)

[@zeh_skrub]

Never forget the downright cheating dodges eiki shiki pulls out, the single character that makes surviving 60 seconds feel like an eternity in that game. great animation and preach the spell card reversal!

[@danteshi]

-no Lily was harmed during the making of the video

[@Aaa-vp6ug]

I love how Reimu cares about Genji

[@eric3617]

1:37 it sounds like shes singing California gurls lmfao

[@nxthingbutv0id958]

It is but it’s the mp3 converted directly to midi

[@sakuraice22]

She is

[@baconsoup8346]

At least Cirno didn't get told by Eiki "Bruh you gonna die one day bro" in this, Cirno no sad today in this cause she got wrecked not once, but twice.

[@Lewtable]

Not even sure how canon that is today, technically speaking fairies are immortal (outside of when she almost blew herself up from Okina's summer energy I guess), only way she properly dies if she evolves into a Youkai.

[@seant1326]

@@Lewtable Which is a potential risk, and possibly the point of Eiki's judgement towards Cirno?

[@raccoonchild]

@@Lewtable Fairies are probably immortal in the sense that they won't die of natural causes (in the case of seasonal fairies like Lily White they just 'die' at the end of their season and 'revive' when it arrives again) but a spiritual attack could actually make them cease to exist. With the spellcard rules in place that should never happen though.

[@Xenomorthian]

@@Lewtable also in HsiFs Narumi states that her ability to control life energy means she can in fact permanently kill fairies also Eiki Shiki was simply saying Cirno might die from getting too powerful, Okina stating Cirno almost dying from the summer energy actually recanonizes what Eiki Shiki said, that its possible for fairies to die from having too much power

[@viniciusc9004]

@@Lewtable faries are immortal due to their connection with nature, what eiki was sayimg is that if she gets any stronger, her connection with nature will cease, thus making her mortal.

[@daviddyer3543]

1:33 "So Miss Lorelei, do you dare to outrun the Princess of Hakurei? You'll lose, but you are WELCOME to try."

[@phyto5297]

the gun scene at 12:18 is SO smooth that’s awesome

[@Darkusaido]

2:40 BAD TOM 5:56 Flowee

[@TheGuardimaster]

13:38 GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL god, touhou soccer is a gem

[@flashtirade]

13:10 If you took a screenshot of the left side and asked what difficulty this was played on, the correct answer would be "it doesn't matter, this is what every fight against Eiki looks like." But anyways, really incredible work. The inclusion of PC-98 stuff and side plots for the other characters makes this extra impressive, you didn't have to go that far but you did.

[@fhornmichaelmac]

Yuuka... Yuuka... Yuuka... Yuuka... Yuuka the Thiiird! Yuuka the Thiiird!

[@tobiasguerra]

Nice

[@Nyaru_UwU]

Yuuka the best.

[@yuitomejia]

10:09 the best part, with references to pc-98 😂

[@clumsyone8575]

Holy crap, 15 minute animation!? No wonder this took so long!

[@Itsn8z]

after watching the whole thing, I really want a touhou kart game to happen someday. Good animation there, Have a merry christmas and a happy new year !

[@Arandui]

There is a fan game called Gensou Skydrift, which is a bit like Mario Kart Double Dash. It's an okay-game.

[@Itsn8z]

Ah really? I'll go check it out !

[@marcar9marcar972]

There’s also a Fumo kart as well

[@raccoonchild]

After reading the canon firework competition it feels like something that might actually happen

[@SusEngineSFS]

There were 5 explosions in this video 1:16 3:16 4:59 7:25 13:40 Why did I waste time on this

[@TheStrongestDodo]

It was worth it tho...

[@SamikazeAtk]

"I can't be bothered to animate this part, here's a romhacked scene" so based

[@soapsatellite]

PoFV being presented a death race was really cool. Am I the only one that wants another Phantasmagoria game? 8:10 I know the credits say Mega Man X for this sound effect, but since I haven't played the X games yet, my first thought was "Oh wow, a Mega Man 7 reference? Really cool" 10:40 Whoever's making these portraits needs to keep doing it. Also, I like that she's probably only a Valkyrie cuz of the hat.

[@probablyfacetious2895]

We're *long* overdue for another Phantasmagoria. Please ZUN, I need it

[@hux0rd]

@@probablyfacetious2895 We *ALL* need it. even Better if there's some sort of Online support. I wonder if there is a Bullet Hell/Phantasmagoria-Type fangame with online support? If not, that'd be a killer fangame

[@Merthlock]

I'm the one who makes the portraits Also yeah I think it's MegaMan 7 oops

[@arcengal]

It's 7, you're correct. It's the "item get!" jingle.

[@SMD234WG]

@@hux0rd PoFV has online support on the Steam version, but you have to invite a friend

[@todbot1]

I love every gag and reference in this video. The Prismriver gang family, Youmu still having too many animation frames, the PC-98 stuff (Rikako GOATed). Looking forward to your next video, whether it's Mountain of Faith or something else

[@shanemcdowell3628]

I cannot wait for MoF and SA. Those are gonna be funny

[@hux0rd]

Utsuho: IMA FIRING MAH LAZOR

[@Joshthepikachu2123]

I was hoping Youmu would still have weirdly smooth FPS animation compared to others and she did I love the running gags in this

[@gabrielarenas7271]

10:33 Eiki gets trolled

[@neoadams4717]

This video Is pure hate towards the lilys lol. I love the quality of this videos, for me, this is the best Christmas gift, thank you

[@creaturecalledcanyon]

as someone whose first touhou game was pofv, I absolutely loved every detail, from tewi being the reason reisen lost her jacket to you playing as reimu and yuuka to include every character was amazing.

[@segasonic4352]

i love the pc98 references in this this series is a treat, i love how you make these videos really glad you did pofv too since it's my favourite touhou game

[@Mukyuu007]

The perfect Christmas gift, thanks Merth!

[@AntiActionFox]

If someone paid you 1 million dollars to make these, I would say you deserved even more. Thank you so much for this Christmas present .

[@Aaa-vp6ug]

I’d love to see this animation turned into an insane version of Mario Kart or something.

[@touhoudelivery3831]

Merth gave us the best Christmas present 🎁 Making an amazing Touhou 9 animation with lots lots of references (even the reason why Reisen doesn't have her jacket suit) also put every character who appear in the game with a funny coherent story of the events, without doubts the best gift ever Hopefully you will do more animations in the future I really admire it :DDD

[@sabulartemmie344]

a whole 15 minutes, what a wonderful gift for christmas 2012

[@doctjoe]

I appreciated all those Lupin III part 1 references. Really fun video. Also liked that you were able to find a way to have the Touhou 5 crew all together for one scene.

[@darkkirby101]

Youmu vibing on the Lupin mobile

[@VividVoid]

The MK64 style character select screen at the start gives me so much life.

[@Cholincy]

Was just rewatching all your previous videos earlier, then I see this after eating a entire dinner table worth of food, Christmas Truly is a blessed day.

[@arcticphoenix2789]

4:35 Oh my god, you killed Lily, You Bastard 7:25 Ah yes, Sakuya's one weakness bullets 8:51 More fairy Roadkill 12:40 OH MY god, you killed Lily Black, You bastard 13:47 Eiki be like, "damn you, damn you all to hell"

[@Aaa-vp6ug]

Technically that was Lily White in black, but I like to imagine she calls herself that anyway, just to f’ck with people. “Yup yup yup. I definitely didn’t commit those warcrimes! You see! I’m not even wearing the same colour as you!”

[@BenersantheBread]

Lily White getting run over made me laugh literally every time.

[@manahive6049]

PoFV getting turned into a big race is really creative, absolutely loved this

[@beamknight87]

10:19 rejoice at Reimu's warcrimes!

[@Ambreil]

I love how when the crowd boos you can here faint Chinese for melling

[@MedsieLovr]

Touhou 10 Animation shall be Sanae's shonen anime arc

[@nujabraska]

Local shrine maiden causes the silent spring

[@LuisFelipe-th1lk]

Reimu with the Roy level ups. Gotta love the 1 luck stat up

[@alanfinck5595]

Touhou 9: Wacky Races. Merry Christmas. Please keep the series going

[@AbcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyandzI]

1:10 Kotohime at the top

[@jaishassan3596]

Along with Rikako

[@prodbycinnagraft]

I always liked it when Sakuya gets so concerned and mildly annoyed with the graze system in Touhou.

[@TontaDeNET]

9:19 - 9:20 I love that flashback, even tho it didn't happened (Meiling told me it didn't)

[@Chitose_]

fairy on the right at 0:05 is a reference to the good ending of the makai route of highly responsive to prayers (very first touhou game) there are a lot more pc 98 references around the video too, but i just wanted to mention one many of you might miss

[@applenaught6768]

The sequel to Fumo Cart Racing we needed.

[@NepNepTech]

rip lily white she died as she lived being ran over by a mclaren mp4/4

[@Mr.SnekMeister]

This was a nice Christmas gift to watch in the morning. Also I’m inclined to call Yuuka’s car the Yuukamobile, declare the Prismriver sisters as a gang family, and have intense worry over Reisen’s intense use of firearms. I also like how you go with many of the fandom choices for characters such as the Eiki being short of height.

[@Aaa-vp6ug]

It would be funny if it turned out she just forgot to put her prosthetics on this morning or something

[@gameguru7495]

5:04 Genji: Suffers from Scarlet Mist Disease. Cirno: Is around. Reimu: “…TO THE IDIOTMOBILE.”

[@anadorablestraycat5255]

yuuka being lupin is amazing

[@deadlyplum2652]

0:58 THE LUPIN FIAT LET’S GOOOO 5:36 AND JIGEN HELL YEAH

[@okbuddydoggo2590]

A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one

[@lordofthesandvich171]

now I want to see PC-98 animations

[@hyperhedgehog7]

the framing device of a race was an excellent choice

[@TheKusarigama]

fairies were injured (and ran over) during production very nice

[@clovenleader3421]

within the first 20 seconds i immediately began to imagine that one meme where danny devito says "so i just started blasting"

[@thepelona2265]

2:41 peak of comedy

[@SilverAlex92]

This is amazing

[@knight_kazul]

Please keep making these, i love them so much. Especially the facial expressions, idk why but their simplicity is hilarious to me. You're doing an excellent job, pls keep it up. 💜💜💜

[@artyom7528]

All faires were harmed in the making of this vid.

[@hyperhedgehog7]

KOTOHIME ACKNOWLEDGED

[@luxiam9148]

MOM WAKE UP IT IS HERE!!!!!

[@TrappedBowyer9684]

Genji is out of retirement

[@Lewtable]

Missed Sakuya cheating even worse at 7:00 Fantastic and totally accurate representation of PoFV, now if we only actually had Touhou Kart.

[@darkdoctorv9172]

Another amazing effort filled video. Thank you so much for another great time

[@palameno]

this is my favorite series ever, I hope you continue to do this for sidegames and maybe even books

[@jokubasplayz9068]

Absolutely love the pc98 era callbacks. At times it started to feel like a novel with all the drama between characters.

[@Tenshiisgood]

4:33 This is me when I encounter Lilly

[@Ayavanni]

I am in your walls

[@proximaeon]

I love how Youmu is just doing like Goemon.

[@davemustang8173]

_When the Hitbox_

[@somebodyinsane1818]

lily just keep coming back after getting run over xdddd

[@robitpower]

I love the PC-98 references in this one

[@Darkusaido]

Oh yes Asphalt 9 touhou version