My Favorite Touhou Songs, A Video Essay

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

probably best to turn captions on, muh voice is a bit blurry ;-; also gimme some of y'all's favorites ^^ (I probably should've mentioned I put the full ranking in the descrip ;-; tinyurl.com/trw9pdsc )

[@Solinaru]

You're number 1# pick is legit the best song of all time. I'm curious where Cosmic Mind ended up on the list? That's top 5 for me.

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

@@Solinaru theres like 4 versions of cosmic mind, the ULiL version by NYO is muh personal favorite at 36th place, it scratches the same itch for me as True Admin coincidentally ;-;

[@PY0ME]

So cool you included the CDs!!! One of my favorites is definitely Blue Sea of 53 Minutes from Retrospective 53 Minutes

[@PY0ME]

After listening to almost only touhou for an entire year, I can confidently say I personally like the albums more than the game osts (the games are awesome dont get me wrong, but zun is a lot more creative in his albums)

[@PY0ME]

Im also really glad Lost Emotions was in your top ten, I love that one so muuchh

[@platonismisoop2152]

It speaks volumes for Touhou's music as a whole that I can look at your selection and think "Yeah, those are some really good picks" and "I'd have an almost completely different top 20" simultaneously.

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

there's just SO MANY to choose from ;-; were there any overlap? was it perhaps Tradition old man, with the Unzan pfp?

[@platonismisoop2152]

@@AllVoiceHowdy It's really hard to narrow it down to just 20 top picks, but Romantic Children, Trojan Asteroid Jungle, Alice in Wonderland and maybe Pandora's Box would have good odds of making it. I really like Traditional Old Man but I don't think it'd make it into the top 20 for me. I'd probably try to fit in some bonus cd songs though, I absolutely love tracks like Magician's Melancholy, Youkai Space Travel and Bibliophile With a Deciphering Eye.

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

Kosuzu's theme is great, but I'm kinda surprised with Youkai Space Travel, I cant understand what that song was going for, it's way too messy for me ;-;

[@Bossatron9000]

This comment baisically summs up what this video was for me as well cause i can listen to and enjoy these songs, but i won't actively *seek* them out if that makes any sense. As in, I'd probably have never have heard 90% of these if not for this video, so thats a massive win. Moreover, these songs make for absolutely perfect background music (which is kinda their whole thing) for videos and such, but 9 times out of 10 i would choose something more intense like satori's theme or junko's. Still a good curation of songs though!

[@w3t_wlpes]

To me, the beauty of Touhou themes is just the sheer variability covers and remixes can experiment with to create music that is so different, yet identical deep down the main motif. No one song is my favorite because it is the creator or artist that can change my perception of a musical theme. I often find myself being obsessed with a singular stage theme for days to weeks on end despite not having a liking towards it prior to listening to a specific arrangement of it. Such is the beauty of Touhou and its amazing fans. (Although I may be contradicting myself right now, the Touhou theme im most obsessed with currently is Doremy's "Eastern Spring Dream" from LoLK) Edit: 34:02 My god Sagume's theme is so good. That chorus just hits all the right notes. p.s - Your artworks are super good!

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

SO TRUEE, The fan arrangements and community really do shape how you like a song, because when you listen back to the original, you hear the POTENTIAL and different ways to play the melodies Without the fansongs I probably wouldn't have put songs like Wheel of Fortune or Kingdom of Nothingness on the list.. ALSO THANK YOUU ^~^

[@saltedsweets]

i love the inclusion of the little drawings, it makes this video so much more relaxing to unwind to :)

[@zacharyyoungblood7013]

Im sorry but wtf... this quality is insane!! It was already an absolutely incredible video... and then I noticed you also drew EVERY BACKGROUND?!?!? I could not applaud you enough for this!

[@GensouChronicle]

Awesome picks!

[@Zora_Ark]

Gensou Chronicle🔥🔥🔥

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

when will we get girls kissing episode... T~T

[@Zora_Ark]

@@AllVoiceHowdy lore accurate girls kissing essay

[@Meocontuki]

43:17 You've just made me spent a whole Sunday afternoon re-listening to all Lyrica Live songs again, hope you're happy... btw, 39:20 by MS, she's still a shrine maiden riding a _flying turtle_, which's even more wacky than a flying shrine maiden.

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

OH CRAP WHY DID I FORGET GENJI ;-; have a nice lyrica afternoon, it's good for you ^u^

[@chesnk998]

Please tell me that "lullaby of deserted hell" is at least in your top 40😭🤧 Actually I was expecting one more song from the touhou 8 to be in this top. Oh, and also I quite much agree with your top one, but personally I can’t really name even my own top five because, you know, all the songs are peak.

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

lullaby of deserted hell? I love that song! I'll probably have it in my...... oh that was me when I realized I put lullaby at 119th place ;-; I'm trying to move it up, I'll probably be lowering some songs above it. I could only move it up to 101th place, the songs that are currently keeping it from top 100 are Mysterious Purification Rod, Starbow Dream and Illusionary White Traveller. Rest assured songs at around 45-132 are still in my A Tier, It's still PEAK, but songs at S Tier are like **Life-Changing** Anyways what other IN song were you expecting? was it History of the Moon? because it just barely made the video at 33, or other songs like reimu-marisa themes and Extended Ash because they came close behind. Or was it, immortal smoke... because i dont even wanna say where its.....

[@chesnk998]

@@AllVoiceHowdy yes, when I wrote about IN I meant something between history of the moon and voyage1969/1970. But okay, I understand that we all have different tastes here, and also different stories of how we got to know each song. That was a great video. Thanks for your efforts.

[@j3zter618]

Seeing the few PC98 songs as well as the 'Marisa Stole the Precious Thing' meme sent me back to 2010-2011 when i first discovered the series. Thanks for the nostalgia trip! Oh, the your list is unique too!

[@XiajieUwU]

idk how but this video give me vibes and back to 2020 or 2019 feels when i was still child minds,i really like the video music used and yes,you make me cry... (btw i was listening like "hours of touhou boss stage music alot videos before,like 100+ idk,that why I'm like Touhou music well) Anyways good video!

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

YESS, SOMEONE NOTICEDD :OOO judging by your pfp, you must've came here from undertale, I ALSO CAME HERE FROM UT, it wass around 2017-2018 when the frisk vs sakuya video came out and at the time the touhou yt community was still pretty small, and there were little 2hu video essays. I'm trying to recreate the videos I watched when i was young, The "what is touhou?" videos, gensokyo boiz and other 2017-2020 feelss , I'd tear up too ;-;

[@im_NOTsmile]

My personal favourite Touhou song is the touhou 8: I.N's third stage theme. It's so gorgeous

[@turkia6148]

Actually insane how close our top 25 is, like only 8 songs are different. (Plus GoA being switched to its 98 version)

[@fullmoonboss]

As someone who discovered Touhou through fanmade music, the official tracks hold a special place in my heart I only ever listen to them when I am doing absolutely nothing so that they can have all my attention so I haven't really found my favorites yet But that's the thing! I love hearing music opinions because almost no one is the same, and each has their own reason for their picks, also everyone is chill and not fighting over which game is the best or why their waifu can totally beat that other waifu I am not really an art person but your drawings are so comforting to my eyes. It would be like if Van Gough was a fantasy landscape artist I respect remixes and musicians alot because their passion *sounds* (hehe) easy but the 3 years I spent learning piano with little improvements and progress did a number on my pre-teen heart and I was only following sheet music, composition is an entire league on its own and I hope you find closure and success on your work. All in all, this video is pure PEAK! Will you revisit the sorter in the future to see if your taste changed?

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

TRUE it's all just opinions. I debated in my head whether or not to name the video "Best Touhou songs" It probably would've made a for a better title but I thought, there's enough "Best Touhou Songs" videos on yt, and declaring your stuff as "best" always kinda rubbed me the wrong way.. Anyways to answer your question, HELL NO (but I probably will ;-;) and If I do come back, I'll do the games 1-by-1 so it wont be as ungodly long Q~Q I kinda learned the hard way that your feelings on songs change overtime especially over a year ;-; and I kept running into choices and orders I started to disagree with. "y did I put this song this high/low?"

[@shooptouhoueurobeat]

Incredible work!!!! Absolutely love your descriptions of everything!

[@bobbobbob321]

Idolatrize, lolk stage 6 as a whole, and ufo stage 6 as a whole are my favorites. Actually a lot of final boss / ex boss themes are my favorites, probably because they get so many banger arranges (I didn't even know galaxy collapse was a touhou arrange before getting into touhou!)

[@lapidotmatoi]

I like all the variety here. I was going to post my 20 favorites from the sorter, but i ended up deciding to restart since something seemed odd with some implied song placements. But for a general non ordered list. Kid's festival ~ innocent treasures, purest sky and sea, every day a red day ~ Folksy eastern days, Bahava-agra as seen through a child's mind, sea of which ones home planet reflects, faith is for the transient people, flawless as the clothing of the celestials ~ yellow lily, faraway voyage of 380,000 kilometers, theme of eastern story, vanishing dream ~ lost dream, unlocated hell, and the deviants unobstructed light ~ kingdam of nothingness

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

Fun to see Transient faith, Faraway Voyage and Vanishing Dream! ^^ They're also very close to the top of muh listt, but still good luck with the restart, I cant even fathom trying to redo my sorter but go ahead ;-;

[@cirnobyl9158]

+1 to Lyrica Live's cover of Our Hisoutensoku being a great window into Touhou.

[@akako-tan]

Quite surprising how many songs of your favorite list are also in mine, despite these being extremely unpopular songs: Witch of Love Potion, Alice Maestra, Alice in Wonderland, Romantic Children, The Traditional Old Man and the Stylish Girl, The Grimoire of Alice. Here are some other personal favorites that weren't present in this video: Tortoise Dragon ~ Fortune and Misfortune, A World of Nightmares Never Seen Before, Doll Judgement, Idolatrize World, The Stone Baby and Submgerd Bovine.

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

Doll Judgement? it was in the honorable mentions, I cant leave that song out ^^ Also submerged bovine is great

[@Cejelost]

HE'S ALIVE!! But seriously, good video! Great editing. You should include your voice more often ^^ It's been a while since I've interacted with anything Touhou related, so this was a nice throwback. Some of these picks I genuinely agree with (others not so much...), and I appreciate you showing some love to the PC-98 entries as well. Makes the whole list a lot more interesting (it's criminal Judas Kiss and Lullaby of Deserted Hell are barely top 100, though (totally not biased)). Nice art, btw :)

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

YOU'RE ALIVE!! But still, Lullaby at 101th ;-;

[@perkunie9764]

Surprised to see so many from the fighters. I really want to do this sorter now (despite how long it would take), especially since I don't have a ranking in mind as I am so indecisive. Romantic children is so good but I think my favourite from the PC98 era may be Lotus Love (I love how hard hitting the harpischord is in the game version), LLS is my favourite game from that era music wise. I like Illusory Science ~ Doll's Phantom from Seihou, as well as it's remix in CoSD, Phantasm Machine ~ Phantom Factory, even though from what I understand its meant to be an intermediate/transitional theme between boss phases (I haven't properly looked into the Seihou series). This series also gave us my favourite themes for the protagonists, Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly and Magus, however I think the best reiteration of Marisa's theme came in GFW, as I do not like the other versions used in the fighters. And since surprisingly Torte Le Magic was brought up, I'll say I have a soft spot for Magical and Hopeless with the one instrument (idk its name) that goes through stereo.

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

oh god you wanna do the sorter... i made a whole redpost on some my journey and few warnings, but I'll give a rundown. Choose your one device, it only saves there. I could get it to save between devicess dont do it like me and actually limit the sources ;-; my total battles ended up being around 6700 matchups, so it is long... use the Save and Load feature as your undo, 1 undo is not enough, never forget to save ^^ Make sure to full finish a song before you pick a winner, because you dont wanna say "this songs already better than this other song" and then come back to that other song after a whole cycle, and regret your decision because there was apparently a 3rd Section to the song you didnt hear ;-; After spending alotta time on a sorting session. When you feel like you're "tired of listening to this", immediately stop and take a break. From my experience, you start see songs alot differently, and make choices you'd grow to regret later... And yes indecisiveness is the biggest obstacle when it comes to the sorter... ^^

[@20DX00]

52:22 The first 4 notes of this song never fail to give me goosebumps, and yeah, it's without a doubt my no.1 favorite Touhou song too. Kid's Festival is the one song that represents the entirety of Touhou and ZUN that isn't even from the games. Aside from that, Alice in Wonderland and Tonight Stars an Easygoing Egoist were the only other songs that I share in this Top 20 and that's perfectly fine, there's enough banger Touhou themes that every favorite list out there is right. One of my favorite themes of all time is The Sea Where One's Home Planet Reflects. Starting with the sounds of waves immediately sets the tone for the stage. Contrasting the difficulty of a final stage with the calmness of the theme, the theme itself is beautiful yet there is a looming sense of dread and sadness.

[@bread-number_2]

This is my favorite video essay ever

[@user-fp2vq5ui8i]

Wonderful selection!

[@valivanvan]

banger choices i did a music sorter a bit ago and we share like 25% of our top 20s lmao. my top 3 ended up being Vanishing Dream ~ Lost Dream, Wind of Agartha, and The Purest Sky and Sea

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

Wind of agartha is great! its definitely a highlight of the cd on the other hand I kinda did the purest sky dirty, I hadn't fully listened to Ri53m before, so all the of the songs there ranked really low ;-; I'm currently moving them up in a list because I had just found out how awesome that cd is And Vanishing Dream is just straight one of the best pc98 songs, though I personally prefer Visionary war, that's just me ^^

[@Ven-xj8qx]

Most songs from the Dolls in Pseudo Paradise already make my top 20. Eternal Shrine Maiden from DiPP has been one of my favorite for a very long time now.

[@Septhim]

Very interesting choices, I can see how you love this franchise so much from all the lesser known picks. My No.1 touhou song is Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess.

[@BWF6_Official]

I have a problem where I have my top 3 favourites sorted out and the rest I like very much but unable to rank, being all tied for 4th place unless my feelings change. I sorted songs by the stage they appear in so at least I know which of those is my favourite but if I had to do a ranking with all of them, then it I will just be conflicted. I tried the song sorter a few months ago and even though I completed it, I noticed it is missing quite a few tracks (Seihou 1 arranges, Music of Lotus Land (ZUN MIDIs), vol. 10 (they just didn't update it yet), SoEW MIDI OST, trial version tracks from LLS (only Bad Apple!!) & PCB and most importantly the few miscellaneous tracks ZUN composed as a guest for other albums) and it mislabeled the unsued PC-98 tracks as having originated from Akyuu's Untouched Score. Counting every single version of each song made by ZUN and/or being related to official Touhou media, the total comes to 1349 tracks as of today (2024/08/09). As for my Top 3: 3. Sleepless Night of the Eastern Country (Magical Astronomy) 2. Necrofantasia (Magical Astronomy) 1. Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly ~ Ancients (Original/Arrange)

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

I great way to sort them as well, is to further divide them to tierlists like [RULES ME] > [Absolutely love] > [Listen to alot] > ..... Because the specific order of songs do change alot, but your general "This songs my favorite" isn't gonna change too much anyways time to judge your picks >:) 3. Sleepless Nights is GREAT, it deserves so much more love than it does ;-; 2. The Magical Astronomy version is definitely the definitive version of Necrofantasia, agree agree 1. I was bout to agree, but you picked the original "Ancients" version from seihou, instead of DiPP >:(((((( I'd argue out of the 4 versions of Dichromatic its at the bottom, I cant handle the instrumentss

[@BWF6_Official]

@@AllVoiceHowdy lol I have literally the opposite opinion. I despise Red and White while Ancients is my top pick. The flow of the music in Red and White just sounds so unnatural and ruins the perfect melody from Ancients. It sounds a bit too violent for Reimu, getting rid of the original mystique while crearing a new one and the change in pitch also makes it much worse. If I had to rank all Niiru Renkachou versions it would be: Red and White (ULiL) < Red and White (DiPP)

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

@@BWF6_Official yea.. you're also not alone, ive seen few other people feel that way. It's probably just my DiPP bias ;-;

[@BWF6_Official]

@@AllVoiceHowdy DiPP is goated, it's just Red and White that's the one stinker in an otherwise perfect paradise

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

@@BWF6_Official I have literally the opposite opinion, but for Ancients in Seihou 1 ;-;

[@spaghettiking7312]

To describe all my favourite Touhou songs, I'd have to write an essay too.

[@chocokii]

tysm for the video

[@zombiekiller0023]

Trojan Asteroid Jungle is so unique to me. No other songs relate

[@egorbessonow2121]

Kid's festival is definitely one of the best Zun's works, and it also has my favourite remix: kid's festival from touhou rhythm carnival. So I'm glad that you picked it!

[@That_Guy_the_Wizard]

Everytime i think I've heard every touhou song i find more bangers

[@catsquaredd]

nice to see some love for some of ZUN's recent works when public reception is largely mixed. I think its because the music past TH16 rely on multiple listens to really enjoy. I didn't like the soundtrack for TH17 to 19 at first but they've really grown on me. I hope its the same case for his recent cd album because I really don't enjoy it all that much lol. An amazing list (even when my top 20 is completely different) and an amazing video overall, especially with the drawn backgrounds!

[@saintbullart]

Everything here is great. Nice picks, lovely to see some rare inclusions! Just, in a video about music, better be sure your audio mixing is right... I could barely hear you before getting blasted by the music!

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

Noted! I'm still doing the mixing by ear tho, because I dont have a consistent recording setup ;-;

[@44tharia46]

i literally wondered out loud if someone's made a touhou song sorter and then get this recommended

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

I believe I might be the firstt to do it with all songs, unless someone proves me wrong ;-;

[@CacoAA]

First of all, great list I really enjoyed the presentation and how you presented each track, it added a lot to the experience My personal (and really out there) picks: The Wonderous Everyday Life of the Flying Shrine Maiden (DiPP is my favorite of the albums, and since Legend of Hourai is already here i thought to add this one) Tiny Shangri-La (that erhu grabbed hold of me even since I listened to it in game and hasn't let go, please send help) And my personal favorite, Magic Shop of Raspberry (I don't how it got this high but I'm not gonna fight it)

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

Absolutely love Flying Shrine Maiden, every DiPP song is like a top 50 or at least 100 for me so of course I like it ^~^ My favorite part is the part where it goes "Tat-tat-tarat-tat" (if you love the song you should know that part, it sounds like a PvZ stage ;-;) Tiny Shangri-La is also really cool, but the erhu is seriously carrying the song ;-; and magic SHOP of raspberry if I recall had the chimes, I'll go relisten to it, because I may've ranked it a bit low, But I do remember the song being better than every song around it on my ranking Q~Q

[@CacoAA]

@@AllVoiceHowdy I never made the PvZ connection until just now, thank you I feel like Tiny Shangri-La might fall off in a few years but for now it's up there, I just really enjoy how the erhu and the piano play off of each other in the latter parts of the song And I just realized I misspelled the name of my favorite Touhou song of all time, I am ashamed (so much so I went back and edited it lol)

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

@@CacoAA I can't believe I still remember the name more than u that's like me saying Kid's treasures ~ innocent festival ;-;

[@stormstroak611]

What a great list, it was so cool to see songs up there that I love that I thought almost no one else did!

[@Exuploshion]

currently going through the works myself to see whats high up, though not done, one i didnt expect to like as much as i do is th18's Lunar Rainbow

[@aqpas]

i'm really glad to see some pc-98 songs on your list! a lot of them are criminally underrated because of the ancient soundfont.. my third favorite touhou song is from this era too and that is Vanishing Dream ~ Lost Dream (only behind Lunate Elf and U.N. Owen was Her?). i can rarely find a song that i can repeatedly listen to and still feel something for like this one. thank you for sharing your list and your amazing artwork! 🌟

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

Vanishing Dream was more popular than I thought :o whenever I see 2hu song rankings Vanishing Dream is usually the highest pc98 songg. Which It absolutely deserves, I have it as my 5th favorite from pc-98, only behind the ones in the list and my personal favorite character theme Visionary War (it's so funn ^~^) But as I said in the video, I do think the best pc-98 songs are the ones that feel like they sound better with the outdated instruments and fully take advantage of the retro style

[@aqpas]

@@AllVoiceHowdy i haven't seen many song rankings but i would have assumed Strawberry Crisis would be at the top of most of them. i'm pleasantly surprised to hear that Vanishing Dream is that far high up! Visionary War is indeed fun, it's definitely somewhere in my top pc-98 songs, not sure how high as i haven't made a proper list myself. i also agree with your last statement, the songs i like so much wouldn't feel the same without that classic retro soundfont. they may be jarring at first but once you get into it and sort of interpret the songs in your own way, you'll be able to appreciate the melodies much more.

[@monochrome4937]

Ngl you have quite an unusual taste and that's kinda based. I went in thinking it's gonna be just ZUN's works and the boss themes but you really pulled out songs from other composers like U2 Akiyama and even remixes. For me, I guess I'm a normie cuz most of my favs are boss themes, but they made special impression due to me in my early Touhou days decided to look up gameplay footage lol Oh and you made remixes too? I'll give some of your works a listen then.

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

honestly i dont have a problem with having a more "normie" taste, especially with some of muh picks that could be seen as "normie" like Lunatic Princess, Doll Judgement, and/or Wind God Girl. I feel like they're popular for A REASON, and if you're still listening to a song even after years, there must be something special with that song ^~^ oh and about my remixes, I didn't really take them too seriously.. I just wanted some decent 2hu songs on Newgrounds ;-; this coming #ImperishableDay I plan on uploading a more unique re-arrangement so stay tuned ^.^

[@monochrome4937]

@@AllVoiceHowdy Yup, sometimes normie picks are that popular because they are THAT GOOD. I still remember witnessing the spectacle that is Touhou 12 final stage, that's why both Fires of Hokkai and Emotional Skyscrapers are very high up my list. Also may I ask what is Imperishable Day?

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

@@monochrome4937 fires of hokkai... that song just barely missed the list, its at 31th place, It's definitely an "EXPERIENCE" to witness and for ImperishableDay, uh on august 15, It's the release date of IN, we'll be posting pretty much any sort of fanwork from music, art whatever, under the hashtag. ytuber Megapig9001 has been announcing them for a while now, and Ive been taking part for all of them (EoSDay, PCBirthday which I missed ;-; and HifuuDay)

[@monochrome4937]

@@AllVoiceHowdy Huh, anyone can participate as long as we put the hashtag? I may consider making something, but I tend to procrastinate lol

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

@@monochrome4937 yeaa.. procrastination is the only hurdle to beat

[@yelenkn4839]

No reason to leave a comment but I thought about sharing my top 3 1st Suika's theme Broken moon 2nd fate/judgement of sixty years 3rd the slow and melancholic un owen was her remixes an example of one would be 【東方Violin／Piano】 Lost My Lover or this one 【東方Piano】少女練習中

[@tabitha17x]

Puts the third Vivit theme in the top 20? Egoistic Flowers exactly top 10? Lost Emotion? Wind God Girl?? Last Remote? Woahhhh!

[@Daniel-Yeeeeeeeee]

a guy talks about his favourite touhou music for 50+ mins? brother sign me up 🤝

[@nathanaeldean6301]

You know, I'm actually curious to how far Girls' Sealing Club went uo your list. I actually think of that as the Hifuus' anthem

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

Hifuu anthem? DEFINITELY, if there were an anime adaptation of Hifuu this should be used in the opening... and IT DID! (A journey of farewell by Yonder Voice from Hifuu Club Activity Record) It's definitely one of my favorites on that CD ghostly field club specifically, but the Hifuu collection as a whole is just SO stacked, It ended up falling to my 14th favorite CD song and 177th on the full list ;-; That's still veryy high, since there's over 700+ songs on there, I still ABSOLUTELY love the song, the opening notes are ICONIC, and the wandering and rambling piano keys, supported by soft guitar BRRR BRRR sounds is great ^~^

[@randommaster06]

You are absolutely correct. Never Gonna Give You Up is the best Touhou song.

[@user-fn6ct6zb7h]

My favorite Touhou songs come from fighting games with Arrangements of Eastern Sky of Scarlet Perception, Eastern Memory of Forgathering and Flawless Clothing of the Celestials being my top 3. I'm also huge sucker for staff roll themes (from TH 6, 7, 7.5, 8, 9, 10, 10.5, 11, 12, 12.3, 12.8, 13 and 19)

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

why specifically 14 staff roll not included, it's muh favorite ;-;

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

@@user-fn6ct6zb7h there's 2 versions, the staff roll and the title screen "Mysterious purification rod" I prefer the title screen :))

[@user-fn6ct6zb7h]

I guess you're right. Now after relistening I should add it to the list. It's probably because I stopped being a Touhou fan after TH 13 and then got back into fandom around 2020/21 so there's alot of nostalgija for series between 6 and 13.

[@MightyHyenaST]

great video! :D

[@MightyHyenaST]

Although I’m not a touhou fan myself, this made me realize how deep this rabbit hole goes, and how much you care abt it

[@justinsanchez6255]

I think my favorite one is from the Grimoire of Marisa, Magician's Melancholy. Still can't beat a Touhou game yet lol

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

Artbook ost :o the song also got a 17.5 rearrange right? its very atmospheric, kinda eerie in some parts... if really like that one I think you might also like "Bell of Avici" and "The Gensokyo that floats in Outerspace" Touhou songs have very long names ;-;

[@YoannBB]

ULTRA BASED VIDEO GAH DAMN THANK YOU SO MUCH Too much to say! DiPP is ZUN's best work. You know even ZUN's most unknown songs (though I gotta ask: does the sorter have like the arranges from Seihou 1 and Touhou 1-5? The ones on the Romantique TP channel from ZUN's old website?) Your top 20 is realllllly good even though of course our taste differs a bit And more... But yeah you just made my week as a Touhou music nerd. Now ZUN where is the follow up album to TJD? You've been doing those since 2006, why stop now?

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

Yep yep yep, the sorter has almost EVERYTHING, except for ZUN's strange works, a few extra arrangements in the fighting OST (IaMP 2nd Cards, HM kappa 8bit remix, and some more U2 arranges) and it's also missing a few outside of Touhou zun songs like Independent Simulacram. I plan for this channel to be a Touhou music nerd channel, because I feel like 2huYT is severely missing that at the moment ;-; Also wdym by "why stop now" did ZUN say TJD was gonna be his last? I haven't listened to it yet... I hope I wont suddenly need to update the list...

[@YoannBB]

@@AllVoiceHowdy it's just that since 2006 (except Magical Astronomy), ZUN always released another HIFUU album in August if he released another one in May. Here he didn't... or at least didn't announce it! But Comiket is held on the 11th so it seems unlikely :/

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

@@YoannBB theres like a schedule for the cds as well? :OO I didn't even know that, I only knew the one for the games ;-;

[@YoannBB]

​@@AllVoiceHowdy Wowowow you're also the guy behind the Touhou ost reaction playlist! That's amazing! Here's a vid you can add to the playlist: it's by "Marvin Heartless" and it's something like "German emo reacts to UN Owen was Hero?" Anyway you playlist is godsent tysm !

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

​@@YoannBBpeople actually use my playlists 😢🥺 Thannks you, i used to be more active adding videos in there, but im glad people still check it out ^v^

[@brainonmaintenance7367]

I came for legend of hourai and I'm not disappointed

[@FirstLast-uj9ud]

It's a rather "normie" pick, but I think Necrofantasia's gotta be my favourite Touhou song. It's got the right blend of intensity and emotion that just makes it very impactful for me. From a compositional standpoint, I also appreciate how cleanly ZUN transitions between keys. ULiL's version of Candid Friend is another great one. One of my favourite Touhou circles is Floating Cloud, who do arrangements of Touhou songs in an Irish trad style. Their versions of Desire Drive and Night Sakura of Dead Spirits are particularly well done.

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

I mean, the song is popular for a reason I remember 8bit music theory focused in on that one, and I have to agree even in the video the song progression is SO clean T~T however I think the chorus lasts too long for me ;-; anyways Candid Friend also cooll, I personally prefer the HM version but they're very close to me ^~^ Also thx for the recommendations, I havent heard much from Floating Cloud, only the BIG popular songs, like the Locked Girl rearrangement. I recommend back Machikado-Mapoze they're a really cool group, that sound ..nothing like Floating Cloud but they're both Traditional bands, so there might be something to like ^^

[@powawawawawa]

I love Touhou.

[@josueml1155]

ngl you cooked with this one.

[@Evilmon2]

Check out Shinkirou by RD-Sounds/Diao ye zong. A great Lost Emotion remix that tells the tale of Hopeless Masquerade in the form of Kokoro's noh performance, complete with her putting on caricatures of the other characters.

[@dondake3278]

no satori maiden 3rd eye sadge

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

she my fav char, but my bias couldn't save the song from being 281th place ;-; (still a decent placement since theres 700+ songs)

[@dondake3278]

@@AllVoiceHowdy ah yes another Satori appreciator I'm curious in what place you put heartfelt fancy

[@doncuerdasrotas3072]

Yo sabia que no era el unico que le gustaba el tema de kaguya diosa 🤓👆

[@zedtedgmd3073]

🎉🎉🎉

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎅🏿

[@leonidtimofeev1178]

I think I know who's your favorite Touhou character 😂

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

I'm never escaping the allegations 😢

[@darksoulsstuffs]

Damn we have almost the same taste. (Idk too many are many favorite they just overlapp with yours). And Last Remote together with Hartman's Youkai Girl is just amazing with each other: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqO5dmiseqyJp5Ysi=wHqIw69hN3iWf4q- , kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYDZqX-vhruEgqcsi=J9oiJY6QFUmVY2vX

[@darksoulsstuffs]

One more thing I want to share: "A Dream that is more Scarlet than Red" gives me nostalgia of things I've never experienced.

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

​​@@darksoulsstuffsI LOVE Scarlet in Red, I think its probably my 4th favorite Opening theme(?) there are alot of good opening themes I wanna hear your opinion on "Mysterious Purification Rod" its muh favorite opening theme, and it's a bit more somber and calming ^~^

[@kasugaryuichi9767]

[@silvito9867]

Ö

[@axelinedgelord4459]

wow, this is all going to make me choose to undo over half a decade of poor coping mechanism and properly care for my life!

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

go fix your life RIGHT NOW >:[]

[@f.u.m.o.5669]

I prefer Aya's MoF theme (Youkai Mountain ~ Mysterious Mountain). Yeah, it doesn't reflect her character like Wind God Girl, but it's just so epic. I can feel the feeling of flying high an fast in that theme. I can almost hear the pain of all the MoF players losing to her too!

[@f.u.m.o.5669]

IMO, my favorite themes generally come from DiPP, SWR, and DDC. And My fav SWR themes are pretty unconventional compared to most, I don't really like ZUN's themes in that game, which might be seen as heresy by some. My favorite themes from SWR are "Skies Beyond the Clouds" (Which has been my favorite for a long time), "Flawless clothing of the Celestials", Its title theme, Broken Moon, and "The Ground's Color is Yellow". This is definately due to bias, as I was young at around the time it came out, and with Akiyama's music in that game being agressively 2008, I naturally like it. Also, based Active NEETS fan.

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

ZUN definitely takes a backseat in the fighting gamess, but I would agree with some that it's heresy to be unconventional with specifically SWR. I personally think it has some of the BEST character themes for a fighting ost, but still Akiyama love is great ^~^ Also, NEEEEEETSSSS and DiPP great choice

[@f.u.m.o.5669]

@@AllVoiceHowdy I still think Skies Beyond the Clouds is a really underrated theme. It has almost no fan remixes, and I've only met a handful of people who have it as their favorite theme.

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

I'm surprised you even found other people who'd say that as their favorite ;-; the thing is with Skies Beyond and a few other SWR themes, is that they're kinda watered down by the fact that they're all built on the same SWR melody/motif?/theme? (SWR theme) They're not like IaMP location/pre-battle themes, that are completely new and original (underrated ost, check out "Stargazer" and "Eastern Wind" ^~^) To be a bit more positive tho, Skies Beyond is my 2nd Favorite pre-battle kind of theme in SWR, only behind "Drunk as I like" (extreme bias I have so much nostalgia for it ;-;)

[@f.u.m.o.5669]

@@AllVoiceHowdy The SWR motif is not broken and does not need to be fixed. It's also one of my favorite Touhou melodies. And I'd like to point out that the SWR motif is slightly different in each of them, some parts being spit into two notes instead of one, so they're not exact copies. I just love the high energy in that theme and the the instrumentals used. No offense to fans of Iku's actual theme, but it's kinda boring imo. The fact you're suprised hurts me slightly.

[@AllVoiceHowdy]

I didnt say SWR theme was broke ;-; its just with so many versions of it, I'd rather listen to my favorite rendition which would be drunky, Also Iku song boring I agree. I am a very surprising person and I will continue to hurt you >:)) (idk why but your replies are not appearing, I look insane talking to myself ;-;)