Analysis of Touhou 19 UDoALG

[CatointheMiddle]

I made an in-depth analysis of Touhou 19.

Read it in the Google Doc here

Discussion is encouraged... A user requested I post the actual analysis here instead of just leaving it as a google doc, so while I recommend the doc as it has better formatting I've also put it below.

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Analysis of Touhou 19 UDoALG

This is a 13,000 word essay, you have been warned.
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Touhou 19 is a game about balance that is itself unbalanced.
          It's not the series' greatest outing gameplay wise but the plot is one of the most engaging. The remastered music is uninspired, but the new music is anything but. There's a lot of 'filler' in the character campaigns (reminiscent of the fighting games), but the narrative highs are the best the series has ever seen. Its symbolism and theming at times feels genius and a brilliant culmination of past games, but at other times ZUN's writing feels too cryptic and even careless for it to always stick the landing.
          To a diehard like me I find all this both frustrating and a part of this game's (and the series') charm. You might ask how I can find flaws like this charming. The simple answer is because they're interesting. The nuanced answer is harder to describe. To quote ZUN from the manual of this game,

"As opposed to AI - which represents perfection, the inorganic, and 'ends over means' - what is imperfect, organic, with the importance put on the process [not the result]? Put simply, it is living creatures."

As meta as it is, the themes of UDoALG are tied closely with ZUN's own thoughts on game development and art. In making art, the process is more important than the final product, for it is in the process that art is born. Creators encounter problems and in doing so are forced to get creative, to think in new ways and learn new techniques, maybe even picking up whole new skills like digital art, coding, music composition and much else. Even if such problems are left for someone else to resolve new relationships, ideas and perspectives can be born from collaboration.
          The process of making art is itself a breeding ground for ideas. To leave more and more of the process to AI is to give up thinking and kill possibility; a surrender to the ideology of the machine where the result is all that matters, and emptiness is better than something real.

'So you're justifying the flaws of the game by saying they are inevitable as a result of the imperfections of the human creator or worse, intentional?'

No, but the flaws are the result of a person and so can be an object of dialogue with the creator through their creation. That connection of the reader to the creator of a work is one of the real reasons why AI artworks can never replace the art of human beings, no matter how 'perfect' they may one day become. Thinking that a person made something is reason enough to try and understand it - to find it interesting. You can even forgive it.

ZUN describes AI creations as, "one of the answers that lies on the path of making everything efficient". If UDoALG can be said to be about anything, it is that there must be something better than trying to constantly optimize the humanity out of everything, even if for the sake of peace. This analysis aims to explore these themes as they are presented in UDoALG by dissecting the complicated plot, examining Zanmu's character, and finally by investigating the comparison the game makes between Reimu and Zanmu.

Part 1: Dissecting the Plot

A Land That Belongs to No One

Just recently, I read the Touhou wiki page for Zanmu in order to get an idea of what the community thinks about her and the game's plot. I don't agree with some of its interpretations of Zanmu's character and UDoALG's plot and it's also rather sparse in detail. Nevertheless, it's a good enough overview so I encourage you to at least skim it before going any further if you aren't already familiar, as it may be difficult to follow some of this analysis if you're going in without any context.

There are three broad questions that need to be answered when discussing the plot, and frankly none of them are given a straight and uncomplicated answer in-game. They are:
1. What is the true nature of the incident?
2. Why and how does Zanmu resolve the incident?
3. Why and how is Reimu able to finally subvert Zanmu's plan?

Part 1 of this analysis will be spent tackling each question in order, while diving into questions of interpretation and analysis of relevant themes and ideas as they present themselves.

The general answer to the first question is given before you even begin the first campaign. Reimu's story preamble says:

"Due to the influence of the market being opened [by Chimata], the ownership rights of the land were returned to nothingness. Spirits have begun to possess [take to] the land one after the other."

Among those spirits are the animal spirits from the Animal Realm. It is explained throughout the game that all three of the Yakuza factions from the Animal Realm are competing with each other and the myriad other spirits in Gensokyo to take control of Gensokyo's land rights (presumably by possessing it as a ghost might possess an object or a place, as such the precise wording of 'ownership rights of the land' can be interpreted as the right of a particular ghost to ghostly-possess a certain patch of land, which I guess is the ghost equivalent of owning a house). The incident could thus be described as a war for vacant land resources conducted among the spirits of Gensokyo and the foreign animal spirits of the Animal Realm. Sounds simple right?
          Well, basically nothing is clarified beyond what I just explained. The game even goes out of its way on multiple occasions to hint that there's a lot more going on behind the curtain but just refuses to give straight and easy answers. One must ask, 'Why does Chimata opening the market return the ownership rights of the land to nothingness?' Reimu thinks at the beginning of the game that Chimata forcibly did this by using her ability of "letting one relinquish ownership", which Chimata in Unconnected Marketeers describes as, 'returning one's ownership of something to nothingness'.

As an aside, Chimata conflates returning ownership to nothingness with returning it to god, for in the Touhou universe gods originally existed within the primeval, nameless state of matter and spirit (chaos). At some point, those gods gave names and so identities to various things in nature, and human beings later gave names to the gods themselves, thus allowing them to manifest with an identity (before this "they were nameless entities with no particular distinctions").
          Divinity in Touhou can thus be seen as something originally rooted in a primeval psychic simplicity that existed within all things. In this state of nothingness all things could be said to belong to the gods, and it was within their power to give names to all that was nameless and without identity; that which belongs to no one belongs to nature, and nature in Shintoism can be said to merely be another name for god. Thus, nothingness in a certain sense (but only in a certain sense) is another name in this context for the divine element that permeates all of existence. This is a rather mystical and mysterious concept, but I am certain this is the idea Chimata is alluding to here as UM elsewhere references it in the form of the Izanagi Objects, which are objects from the time of the gods that do not possess names (all this information comes from CoLA Chapter 15).

Back to the point at hand though. Near the end of the game Reimu corrects her initial view and says to Suika in a rather illuminating statement:

"I had assumed that Chimata had forcibly freed the land from all ownership. But actually, the land was naturally let go as a result of the market god appearing. In other words, this incident is a natural phenomenon... The only solution is to leave it alone."

I actually think this is one of the most important lines in the whole game, there's more hidden in it than meets the eye. First, what does Reimu mean when she says, "the land was naturally let go"? What even constitutes as 'naturally' in a context like this? In my eyes, there are two possible interpretations. The first is the lazy but uncomplicated interpretation. Marisa explains to Reimu in her scenario:

"There was land a portion of rich spirits weren't ever going to give up the rights to. Suddenly, those land rights were relinquished [My Translation]."

My thoughts originally were that it is considered unnatural in the Touhou universe for one person to hold onto the ownership of something (much less land) for too long/indefinitely, as some rich spirits were able to do in Gensokyo. As such Chimata, a market god whose existence would be considered natural in a world with the concept of ownership, restored the natural order just by passively exerting her influence (existing) in Gensokyo, and thus the rich spirits lost their land rights as a result of nature rectifying itself of what had been up until then an unnatural hoarding of land resources (the social commentary writes itself).

I am certain that I was dead wrong in thinking this.
          First, it doesn't neatly square with what Reimu said. Surely nature 'rectifying itself' counts as Chimata forcibly freeing the land from all ownership, even if indirectly.
          Second, and much more damning, is the existence of the spirit that Biten ate to awaken as an oni. The spirit in question is described as having 'influence' (the Japanese word 権力 implies political influence) and owns the land rights to the Sacred Land of the Yamanba at the foot of Youkai Mountain. They, unlike the other rich spirits, had not yet relinquished their land holdings, and "Just when they were hesitating on whether to return the land", Biten ate them. Karmic retribution, I guess.

This establishes that the land-owning spirits had a choice whether to return their land ownership to nothingness - there was no compulsion. And this is backed by the final reason I believe the first theory I presented to be wrong. It can be found hidden in Chimata's character profile from UM:

"For humans, letting go of things is difficult.
Even if you give it to someone, the information that it was a gift from you will remain.
Even if you throw it in the trash, or illegally dump it on a mountain, the information that someone left it there will remain.
Relinquishing ownership is no easy feat.
However, there exists a place where that act can be perfectly carried out.
The one place where people can exchange objects: the market.
By selling something at a market, you can completely give up possession of it."

The rich spirits, in order to completely give up their land rights, are required by the definition laid out here to sell those rights in the marketplace. Presumably before Chimata appeared this kind of transaction was either not appealing or just straight up impossible, I'm not sure which (I mean, what on earth would some 'rich spirits' be willing to trade their land for? Money to give the Yama? Speculation is invited).
          Since it is stated clearly in UDoALG that ownership of the land rights returned to nothingness it seems obvious to me that the person they sold the rights to was none other than Chimata herself, and yes this is possible because at the end of each UM campaign Chimata thinks the heroines have come to sell their accumulated ability cards to her. Presumably selling something to Chimata within the bounds of her magical marketplace can be the same thing as returning the ownership of that something to the primeval nothingness (ownerlessness) from whence it came, since Chimata is in this case representative of nature (the gods) and thus cannot be an 'owner' of something in the traditional sense.
          This explains why it was not forced by Chimata, as the business of buying and selling is, at least in Chimata's marketplace, a voluntary exercise. It also explains why Reimu calls this 'natural' and the incident which followed a 'natural phenomenon'. In one meaning of the word 'natural', it is of course natural for the spirits to sell their land rights if they found the conditions of the transaction attractive. And in the other meaning of the word, similar to what I wrote earlier, it is natural in the Touhou-verse for ownership to be lost and gained through the marketplace. Chimata's character profile says:

"These days, the buying and selling of things has come to occur without a market's involvement much more often, and as a result there is an utter glut [flood] of ownership rights. [Chimata] lamented this fact."

As it is Chimata, a marketplace god, who laments this it is clear that what the rich spirits have done is unnatural. Under a true market like the one brought by Chimata, the land rights of the ghosts of Gensokyo naturally change hands over time and no spirit feels the need to hoard their wealth (land).
          That is, except, for the spirit who possessed political influence. They hesitated to part with their land, because in addition to whatever the benefits are of being a rich, land-owning spirit, this spirit also possessed some political power (probably because of their connection to the Sacred Land of the Yamanba and its unique position in Youkai Mountain politics) and so was more hesitant to give up that power. As a result of their greed, they were eaten by an outcast monkey. The social commentary writes itself.

In the end the land returns to nothingness (god), and a great clamour of spirits appear to try and claim the ownership rights for themselves. But in comes the animal spirits from the Animal Realm, fully equipped with numbers, power, and an ideology where the strong take (弱肉強食, The Strong Eat the Weak). With their appearance, the squabble for land threatens to devolve into a war where three powerful factions consolidate all the land for themselves. But as a result of Zanmu's plan this is stopped in its tracks, and at the end of the story the ownership rights settle in the hands of a bunch of nameless spirits. Almost as if, while everyone else was fighting, they just possessed a bit of land, settled in, and waited for the assigned statutory time to pass when the universe would consider them the new ghostly owner.
          It was the unrealized dream of such meek ghosts that they would one day possess their own ghost home, and I guess their own ghost family with a dog. Perhaps in life, no matter how hard these poor spirits worked they never got the opportunity to own their own house, probably because some rich tossers hoarded all the land for themselves. But in Gensokyo a true market exists, and anyone who works hard enough can achieve their modest dreams.

For you see, my dear reader, the title, 'Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost' refers to the American Dream. I **** you not.

The Palm of the Buddha

Having answered the first question as to the true nature of the incident to the best of my ability, I want to talk about the real meat of the plot - Zanmu's grand plan.

Luckily, the majority of Zanmu's plan to resolve the incident is explained by herself to Suika in Suika's ending:

“Z: Look at them [everyone involved in the incident], running along the palm of my hand,
the world is moving just as I think it to.
S: So, having made the world move as you think it, what do you actually want to accomplish?
Z: Protect the surface from the Animal Realm and Hell.
If left unchecked, the beasts will fight each other for control of the surface.
And the oni of Hell would also move in to stop them.
S: ...
Z: If that happens, Gensokyo could never hope to return to its idyllic state.
That's why I told everyone in Hell that I would handle the situation,
and that they should stay put until then.
Provoke the beasts in the right amounts, make them keep each other in check,
and slip spies into their ranks so that they can be controlled.
Having bought some time, the incident will naturally subside.
See? Simple, is it not?”

I won't get into Zanmu's motivations and true goals until much later, but I'll just add that Zanmu's main apprehension is further described in her character profile:

"If the oni [of Hell] and the beasts [of the Animal Realm] were to wage war on the surface, the surface would literally become a picture of hell."

Being a person who apparently despises the cruelty of war due to her past experiences in Sengoku period Japan, Zanmu decided to take action to avoid this outcome, as that cruelty to her is "unneeded in Gensokyo" (Zanmu's character profile).

Zanmu before the events of the game manipulated the three Animal Realm factions to invade at the same time so that they would end up fighting each other for control of the land. The 'spies' Zanmu sent in are Biten for Yachie's faction, Enoko for Saki's faction, and Chiyari for Toutetsu's faction. These three were tasked to preserve the three-way balance of the three beast factions, so that by constantly fighting each other the nameless spirits of Gensokyo would get the time needed to claim the land for themselves. We don't know much of the nitty gritty details, but the main function the three served lay in the traps Zanmu planted on their persons.
          She gave each of them objects with a transportation trap which would activate if another tried to touch them (the objects are Biten's staff, Enoko's jewel, and Chiyari's syringes). The victim would be transported to hell, usually directly to Zanmu (though judging by Nazrin and Seiran's routes, Biten and co. had some leeway of where in hell to send their victim - to be honest the actual mechanics are left extremely vague). The reason for this was so Zanmu could personally deal with anyone who tried to defeat the three beast factions. She says to Reimu, "even if you fight [one of the beast factions] that will only bring benefits to the others (Reimu's scenario)". Basically, if someone like Reimu or Marisa tried to stop the beast factions they would only succeed in upsetting the delicate balance of power between them, thus making it easier for one of the other factions to take land for themselves.

But how does Zanmu dissuade those who get caught in these traps from further meddling? At face value it just looks like she tells them to stop intervening, fights them, and then sends them all back home. Doesn't seem like it'd be effective. However if you read between the lines it's obvious that Zanmu is using her ability on them. This is:

"The Ability to Manipulate Nothingness"

It is no exaggeration to say that figuring out what this ability actually does is the most important and most difficult interpretive problem for understanding the plot. Like seriously there is way too much you can read into it, so most of the rest of this section will be devoted to its analysis.

There is one line in the game that further describes it - from Yachie's ending:

"The ability to return everything to nothingness, to crave nothingness."

The 'return everything to nothingness' part is notable because in the original Japanese it is identical to the terminology used to describe Chimata's ability to return ownership to nothingness (無に帰す), which would imply Zanmu's ability shares similarities with Chimata's. Indeed it is notable that Zanmu's appearance coincides with an incident that revolves around the land returning to nothingness. Putting that aside though, the second part - "to crave nothingness" - is more important at present, as it helps explain the behaviour of those affected by Zanmu's ability.

Beginning with Yachie, after fighting Zanmu she clearly loses her drive:

"It wasn't clear when, but the goal had shifted from
conquering the surface to maintaining the present state of affairs.
For some reason, whenever Yachie began to have doubts [about her current condition] a feeling of helplessness would wash over her.
After a bit, she would once again want to fight.
Things like that seemed to repeat for her."

The image here is very clear - Yachie has fallen into a rut. You could almost say she's depressed. Instead of ambition, she desires the status quo (which in this case is the same as desiring nothing). She literally can't even hold any real thoughts (doubts) that could lead to her breaking out of this rut, because when she starts to think it just hits her that it's pointless to even try (the feeling of helplessness).
          It reminds me of someone who has been so crushed by their reality that they've given up even trying to get themselves out of the ditch they've found themself in. Someone who, having experienced too many failures, butted up against too many insurmountable walls, felt too great of a disappointment, has simply given up. Yachie has lost her ambitious, driven self, despite occasionally getting the urge to fight again. Due to Zanmu's ability she craves only what's safe for her: the status quo, nothingness... an empty mind.

This idea I've raised of Yachie being unable to hold any 'real thoughts' and craving an 'empty mind' is closely connected with a word that Zanmu uses a few times throughout the game. This word is 空想 ('kuusou'), typically translated as 'fantasy' or 'daydream', but more literally means 'thought without any reality or substance', or 'empty thought' (I will translate it this way from now on for clarity's sake). It's a peculiar word, because it's similar to the word usually used in Touhou that we also translate in English as fantasy, 幻想 ('gensou', like Gensoukyo), which literally means 'illusory thought' or 'fantastical thought'. This similarity is no mere coincidence. In fact, ZUN has compared the two words before in CoLA chapter 3:

"An imagination based on more imaginations is no more than an empty thought    [空想]. The different kinds of imagination are ranked in the order: Empty Thought [空想], Delusion, Prediction, the Virtual, and Fantasy [幻想]." [My Translation]

What Rinnosuke is saying here is that 'empty thought' is the lowest form of imagination because it has absolutely no basis in reality ("an imagination based on more imaginations"), which is to say it is the closest to nothingness. You can see why this word might be translated as 'daydream', because daydreams are typically seen as idle, without meaning, without concern for how 'realistic' their contents may be, and often so inconsequential and hazy you forget them the moment they end. On the other end is 'fantasy', which I like to think refers to the kind of robust imagination that is a reflection of human experience and is communicative of deeper truths, like Lord of the Rings or even Touhou itself.

As Zanmu is closely associated with this word 'empty thought' I believe it is key for understanding her ability and, as I shall discuss throughout this analysis, the themes of the story.
          With this ability Zanmu was able to limit Yachie's capacity to doubt her own depressed condition. As this doubt is quashed by a feeling of 'helplessness' I think at bottom Zanmu's ability is making Yachie craven. To go a bit further, I believe her ability is able to limit the imagination of others through the sheer intensity of the impression which she leaves on them, be that through her charisma or her terrifying strength.
          In this state it is her own power of imagination (and not that of others) that comes to control the future. Zanmu says to Yuuma, "It is the future that I want, to manipulate everything and create the future [My Translation]", and Suika says to Zanmu, "Your power of imagination to create the future... It's always amazed me to see." By making all of her rivals abandon thought and imagination she becomes the sole mastermind and architect of the future. In that future she rules over a Kingdom of Nothingness and empty thought as the "King of the Silent Bliss of Nirvana", for in that false Nirvana is the silence of an irresistible peace. As she says to Yuuma, "You have no choice but to live in the palm of my hand! Understand? You wretched beast!"

Through the power to manipulate nothingness everyone is fated to live in the palm of Zanmu's hand, from which there is no escape.

Look at Marisa, where her ending says:

"Marisa had been trying not to remember.
About the dream where she fought an oni in a mysterious place.
About the fact she'd convinced herself it was a dream.
The chaos on the surface continues.
However, Marisa's interest has moved from the ownership rights of the surface to the magic item in front of her."

Marisa, like Yachie, has shifted her goals after her encounter with Zanmu. Marisa's job might not be incident resolution, but she clearly thinks of herself as an incident resolution specialist like Reimu and even actively competes to solve incidents before Reimu does. It is out of character for her to just ignore the chaos happening in Gensokyo and someone as suspicious as Zanmu. Instead, she takes what is for her the path of least resistance - satisfying her endless curiosity and collector's habit.
          And how does all of this work? She was actively sealing away her memory of Zanmu - trying not to think about her experiences in hell - almost as if it were some traumatic memory she was subconsciously suppressing. Another instance of craving the nothingness of thoughtlessness. In Marisa's case you could call her shift of interest to Enoko's orb little more than escapism; the 'Will to Nothingness'.

Sanae in her ending also suppresses her memory of Zanmu by convincing herself it was a dream. Zanmu even says to her before their fight “Now you must choose. Forget it all, or return to nothingness!” If Sanae loses Zanmu says, “So, you chose to return to nothingness”, which implies if Sanae wins she will “forget it all” instead, which is indeed what happens in her ending.
          What is curious though is that while Sanae does indeed suppress her memories she clearly hasn’t fully forgotten them. You might think, ‘Ok then so Zanmu can cause people to suppress memories by using her ability, but she can’t actually completely delete them.’ You would think this, but Ran’s scenario indicates otherwise. In it, Ran (unlike the other incident resolvers) seemingly never encounters Zanmu even though she meets Chiyari. The precedent set by Marisa and Sanae’s stories, where Enoko and Biten trigger the transportation trap and send them to Zanmu, makes the player think Ran will be ensnared in a similar fashion in turn by Chiyari. But this never happens. Instead, she goes to the Animal Realm of her own accord and fights Yuuma. Cue her ending, which cryptically says:

"What was the ‘trap’ [Suika] told her about?
Had Ran fallen for it, had she avoided it,
or had it never existed to begin with?
…
Ending No. 04: The Fox’s Lost Memories”

What is this ending referring to when it says, “The Fox’s Lost Memories”? It can really only be one thing. Ran DID fall into a transportation trap and meet Zanmu, we just didn’t see it. This happened after the fight with Yuuma, since we learn from Rin’s scenario that Yuuma has one of Chiyari’s syringes with a transportation trap. Rin in her story is duped by Yuuma and teleported to Zanmu, an event which chronologically occurs just before Ran’s fight with Yuuma. It makes sense to think that Ran also fell into the trap after her fight and met Zanmu.
          What this means is that Zanmu is indeed capable of deleting or completely (not just partially) suppressing memories. We don’t know the full conditions for this ability, but it still begs the question:

‘Why did Zanmu delete/completely suppress Ran’s memories of her but not those of the others?’

To answer, we have to step back a bit. Remember that Zanmu wants to achieve peace in Gensokyo and to dictate its future, presumably so it can live in a perpetual peace of her design. Zanmu’s ending elaborates more:

“Truth be told, Zanmu intended to bring both the Animal Realm and Gensokyo under her control. That is, to make them a part of Hell.”

But exactly how was she planning to do this to Gensokyo? It’s not exactly a place that would be easy to take control of, with the likes of Reimu, Yukari, Kasen, Okina etc. around. The final conversation between Zanmu and Reimu in Zanmu’s scenario contains the answer:

“Z: Fight me, and defeat me.
R: Huh? What's that about?
Z: "The incident in Gensokyo just solved itself." That won't ease the people's fears.
It won't amount to true incident resolution.
"The shrine maiden fixed everything by defeating the mastermind, Zanmu."
Render it that way. That alone will stabilize Gensokyo.
I'll give you the credit for resolving the incident.
You'll take it, won't you?
R: Hmph. No, thanks. I know what your true plans are!
You want to leave your shadow in everyone who's involved in the incident.
Even if I take the credit for resolving the incident, your shadow will always remain in my heart.
I want no part of that!”

To put it simply, Zanmu wishes to "leave her shadow in everyone who's involved in the incident" as it will give her the power to bring Gensokyo under her control. You might fairly ask, 'What the hell does that even mean?' Because frankly, outside of Chiyari's ending which mentions Zanmu's shadow in passing we get no clarification on it. However, it's obvious to me that it refers to the impression she leaves on others, and how that impression acts as a window for Zanmu to influence people through her ability.
          In Ran's ending, Yukari says, "calling [the incident] a natural phenomenon will reduce the mastermind's influence in Gensokyo, wouldn't you agree?" The word 'influence' here in Japanese is 影響力, which uses the kanji for shadow 影. In other words, Zanmu's 'shadow' is mostly just an ominous way of referring to her influence over the people involved in the incident amplified through her ability. This influence, as discussed earlier, is mostly about removing opposition so that all can move according to Zanmu's masterplan.
          From this you can see why Zanmu left a shadow of a memory in the minds of those who encountered her, instead of fully deleting them like she did with Ran. As for why Ran's memories were completely removed, it's clear to me this was to avoid Yukari learning of her plan, and as I'll explain in the next section Zanmu had a damn good reason for not wanting to get Yukari involved.

Back to exploring the full extent of the power of Zanmu's shadow. Remember that everyone besides Reimu basically gave up trying to actively oppose Zanmu or understand her plan after encountering her. And yes this includes Mamizou and Yuuma despite initial impressions.
          Mamizou fears the transportation traps and even admits that she doesn't understand what Zanmu is trying to do - an indirect way of saying she's a long way from properly investigating Zanmu's scheme. Her ending does say that she ignores Zanmu's warning to stop her 'selfish' meddling with the incident, but this in no way amounts to Mamizou opposing Zanmu in any meaningful way, or attempting to escape from the palm of her hand. Yuuma on the other hand clearly opposes Zanmu, and even keeps Chiyari around thinking:

"From Toutetsu's point of view, [Chiyari] is her only link to Zanmu.
As a possible trump card to combat Zanmu,
There was nothing else but her."

But notice how weak this really sounds. Chiyari may end up being a trump card, the only one Yuuma can think of. It is an incredibly passive and reactive stance to take. She literally can't even think of a more proactive, concrete strategy to fight back, and instead pins her hopes on somebody else maybe being useful someday.

The truth is nobody can resist Zanmu after meeting her. Whether it's because she's too overwhelming and a helpless feeling washes over them (Yachie), or because she's so charismatic that they forget their pride and obey her (Saki), or because she instills fear into them (Mamizou), or just because they can't understand Zanmu and her plan and so give up thinking (basically everyone), nobody has the guts and imagination to try and escape her shadow which rests on their hearts.
          Just think of what this means if she succeeds. After the incident she would face little opposition from Reimu, Marisa, Sanae, Mamizou, and then whoever else she brings to heel like Yukari or Okina. With the combination of her ability, her intelligence, her charisma, her power as an oni, and her popularity in hell - and thus control of at least some of its forces - Gensokyo couldn't hope to avoid being controlled by her if she so desired it (heck, she even ominously says to Reimu in Reimu's scenario that she hasn't yet invaded Gensokyo with the beasts from the Animal Realm).
          But the true extent of her shadow goes even further than that. Even after everything I've said a lot remains undefined and unclear for just how broad in scope her power is, and there are aspects of the incident I haven't brought up yet which puts into question just how deep her involvement really is, and the full extent of her machinations.

Up against someone like this, how does Reimu - a dumbass compared to Zanmu - thwart her plan in the end? How does she escape from the palm of Zanmu, the false Buddha who promises peace in a Nirvana of empty thought?
          For Zanmu is a picture of what you might call the anti-Buddha. In life, a "depraved Buddhist monk" (Zanmu's profile), now a 'self-righteous oni' (Suika's ending) who sits under a tiny bodhi tree on a rock of skulls in mockery of the enlightenment of the historical Buddha, thinking that it is her palm that Son Wukong could not escape from in the story. But she is a fake Buddha, just as Biten is a fake Son Wukong and Enoko is a fake Cerberus and Chiyari is a fake Chupacabra. For the enlightenment which leads to Nirvana in Buddhism is an enlightenment of clear thought, not the muddled thought of daydreams. From her palm, unlike the Buddha, there is one who can escape, who flies above reality itself in the realm of fantasy without empty thought.

The Flying Shrine Maiden

At the beginning of the story Reimu - almost by accident - ends up going to Zanmu by foot instead of falling into a transportation trap. After their confrontation Zanmu tells Reimu to watch as she neutralises the three Animal Factions and quells the incident, to which Reimu’s ending says:

“Reimu felt fear in the bottom of her heart.
Her intuition is saying that [Zanmu] is the incident's culprit, but at the same time felt that she wasn't an enemy.
An enemy who is also an ally. She’s the seed of anxiety, but also feels reassuring.
If this is what oni are, neither humans nor animals stand a chance against them.”

Reimu, presumably like everyone else, felt a shadow of fear fall over heart. And, come to think of it, Zanmu is almost like an embodiment of fear, as to manipulate nothingness is in a sense to manipulate the unknowable and the unknown, the source of fear. But unlike everyone else who fell to Zanmu’s ability which took root in fear, making them flee to empty thoughts, suppression of memory, and resignation, Reimu continued her investigation. In both Biten and Enoko’s scenarios Reimu appears and says to them:

“After stepping back and observing the incident I realised who the bad guys were.
I let you wander free until you showed your hand!
You’re a pawn of that oni from hell. Prepare to be exorcised!”

She then explains to both how she discovered each of their connections to Zanmu, showing that though Reimu was willing to let Zanmu handle the three Animal Factions (she followed Zanmu’s directions not to interfere with them) she still continued to investigate Zanmu and her plan, since her intuition told her she was still an enemy. She even seems to plaintively muse about Zanmu’s true motivations:

“Biten/Enoko: That’s why I’m working to fulfil [Zanmu’s] wishes.
...
Everything rests in the palm of Master Zanmu's hand...
Reimu: …Zanmu’s wishes, huh?”

To me, it sounds like Reimu understands on some level that what Zanmu truly wants is similar to what she herself wants - peace. Even Zanmu seems to think that on this point they are similar, as her story preamble says:

"Anyone who opposes peace is an enemy of the future.
Don't you agree? Reimu Hakurei." [My Translation]

Given all of this, it doesn’t come as a surprise when in Suika’s scenario Suika and Reimu have this conversation:

“S: In the midst of all this fuss you haven’t made a move?
R: Because [the incident] was already resolved.
[Explains how the incident is a natural phenomenon]
…the only solution is to leave it alone.
S: …Is it natural? Or else [Reimu’s] ability to fly through the sky?
Is Reimu the only one who isn’t in Zanmu’s palm?”

Reimu alone does not succumb to the 空想 (empty thought) of Zanmu, because as Suika points out Reimu’s ability is the ability to fly through the sky (空を飛ぶ), in other words the ability to fly above 空, which is used in 空想 as meaning ‘empty’. Reimu’s ability to fly in the sky literally doubles as the ability to fly above empty thought, and perhaps even nothingness itself. She is in other words a direct counter to Zanmu’s ability. Which shouldn’t be surprising, because out of Rinnosuke’s hierarchy of thoughts which I discussed earlier Reimu surely represents the highest, Fantasy (幻想, 'gensou' for Gensoukyo).

An important question here is why does Reimu realising that the incident is a natural phenomenon mean she has escaped Zanmu’s control? The answer goes back to what Zanmu said to Reimu in their final confrontation:

""The incident in Gensokyo just solved itself." That won't ease the people's fears.
It won't amount to true incident resolution.
"The shrine maiden fixed everything by defeating the mastermind, Zanmu."
Render it that way. That alone will stabilize Gensokyo.
I'll give you the credit for resolving the incident."

Zanmu wants to be seen as the shadowy mastermind, who somehow orchestrated the incident for her own ends. If everyone in Gensokyo thinks that Zanmu was the mastermind, a suspicious figure from hell, then it would be a victory for her like when Yukari stole the saké from the Lunarians in SSiB. The whole point of Yukari’s second ‘war’ against the Lunarians was to set the fear of Youkai and Gensokyo in Eirin. Similarly, Zanmu’s whole point of desiring to be seen as the mastermind is to manufacture a vague fear towards herself from the residents of Gensokyo. This shadow of fear is likely a precondition to use her ability on people, but even if it isn't her modus operandi is manipulating those who fear or love her. A populace that regards her with fear is something she can control with her incredible power of imagination so that, when the time comes, she can possess their future for the sake of peace.
          In not falling for the false narrative that Zanmu is the mastermind of the incident, and also refusing to fight her for the sake of ‘solving the incident’, Reimu finally acts outside of Zanmu's plan.

Realising the final part of her plan has failed, Zanmu says:

“If you plan to escape from my palm now, I no longer need to purposefully lose.
Instead I will strike the true terror of oni into your heart!
Let that terror be carved to the ends of your imagination! Human of many futures!”

And after beating the daylights out of her, Zanmu decides to 'entrust Gensokyo to Reimu' (Zanmu's ending), because in Reimu she had seen many better futures for Gensokyo than the sole one she could provide (Reimu is the "Human of many futures").

Before I finish Part 1 of this analysis, I'd just like to acknowledge that Reimu did not escape Zanmu's palm by her power alone. It was with the help of Suika, Hisami, and... YUKARI!? that she won in the end.

...

Yes, you read that right. Yukari.

When Reimu is explaining to Suika how she knows the incident is a natural phenomenon (because of which Suika concludes that Reimu is not in the palm of Zanmu's hand and so gives her the advice she needs to upend Zanmu's plans), she ends her explanation by using the Japanese particle for quoting someone, と. In other words, someone told her this. And wouldn't you know it, in Ran's ending after Ran explains to Yukari that the incident is in truth a 'natural phenomenon', Yukari says Ran's explanation is 'fine', in the sense that what she's looking for isn't the truth, but a narrative suited for her purposes:

Y: Calling it a natural phenomenon will reduce the mastermind's influence in Gensokyo, wouldn't you agree?
R: So there is someone pulling the strings, if I understand your words correctly?
Y: I've said that no-one's pulling the strings. It was a set of coincidental events. Merely a natural phenomenon.

And Yukari, just like she did in HSiFS, tipped off Reimu about this, ultimately securing the win.

Another victory for border team.

Continuation for Part 2 below in reply #5.

[Bonnie (1st Iteration)]

You made me interested this game despite the flaws. Thanks man.

[CyberAngel]

tl;dr "capitalism bad" says man selling his games worldwide

[Suspicious person]

That was a VERY long read (a little over 1h and a half for me), but pretty instructive with a lot of interesting conclusions, I say

My thoughts on OP's thoughts on ZUN's thoughts

AI stuff

AI is honestly a bit of a boogeyman for ZUN, as UDoALG is pretty much the third (if we're gonna be generous) instance where you have a faction / character that symbolises it in its perfection + capabilities : between the Lunar Capital, Keiki and her Haniwas, and Zanmu here, it all boils down to absolute perfection and efficiency derived from absolute control being considered as a dehumanizing thing that takes out all the fun part in life as well as agency. So thematically speaking, UDoALG isn't necessarily new or unique for the series. Although the Reimu Zanmu parallels and conclusion give quite a bit of human aspect here instead of the usual.

Zanmu and Reimu

Ability wise, I've vaguely suspected her nothingness abilities to be capable of affecting the mind, especially considering Kicchou's performance in UDoALG's story (a massive downgrade compared to her 17 self), but reading what the analysis put together in a more compact manner has made it more of a certainty. Overall, this makes Zanmu and her ability seem like a FAR MORE potent Kicchou, with far more potent and consequential lingering effects. Pre-chapter 28 CoLA lore is such a big achilles heel to me when it comes to this series's lore as I haven't quite caught up nor manage to keep focus when rereading these again (the writing style, maybe ?), so the talk about hierarchy of thoughts is extremely interessting and educative to me, even moreso in the way it's used to explain Zanmu's ability + its influence : she's not just smart, she makes her competition dumber and apathetic (by means of reducing the thought one is capable to the lowest, base level, seeking the comfort of easy certainty rather than the more challenging alternative (definitely a bit like those who view AI generated answers as authoritative) ; and it also seems that those that are "tainted" by her nothingness become more susceptible to her manipulation, if we go by the closing thought observation on the empty underground spirits.

Character and motive wise, there is definitely a lot of things that get missed if you're not familiar with the kanji & terminology used AS WELL as buddhist concepts ... a very complicated character, whose nuances are easily lost in translation (no blame to the translators, can't fault them for not making mu and mu  distinguishably more different and meaningfull, likewise for some potentially-heavy-in-implication-having-words-or-symbols-that-just-don't-have-the-same-flair-in-english),

It's been a year and some more since last I read the various UDoALG dialogues, character texts and omakes, my final impression of Zanmu was that of a Mary Sue like figure that put herself between the Beasts and Gensokyo cuz of Sengoku era likeness related reservations on the surface, with the side bonus of wanting her part of the Gensokyo-influence-cake, which I considered as the justification for her true reason for intervening instead (cuz she's selfish and self righteous and think her view is the correct one), but I had to rethink my conclusions with what the analysis brings to the table : IF confrontation with Zanmu (a losing or less favorable one ?) leads to her nothingness creeping inside one's mind and heart, and IF Zanmu is capable of influencing or even downright controlling those who have that nothingness inside of them, then despite her "official" endgame for UDoALG being genuine (quelling the beasts), the true implications of her powers make her far, far more insidious. I've initially considered her wanting to leave her footprint on Gensokyo's history to be something like Yukari towards Eirin and the Moonies, or even Okina towards modern Gensokyo, but factoring in Zanmu's possible true abilities means that she'll have a portion of Gensokyo's population (& important actors) to heavily influence / control at her own leisure. Now THAT would 've been a more serious incident than whatever real estate drame we've got going on.

It's not clear why absorbing a beast youkai would turn her into an oni, but I think it's partially symbolic

This is a bit of an impression of mine, but WaHH kinda gave me the impression that we could draw a triangle that links human, hermits and onis, as in whereas hermits are humans who've controlled their desires to an unnatural extent, onis are those who've givven into them to an extreme extent. Lingering spirits generally have a bit of desire to them, even moreso for the wild and selfish animal spirits such as those in WBaWC, so I wouldn't be too surprised if that helped(?) her into getting progressively becoming an oni. Food for thought, unceratain of the pertinence of my reflexion here, but aside from that, I'm more interested in how Biten, an Youkai, would get close to Oni-fication herself rather than Zanmu.

Final conclusion 1 : the 4th beast faction

Now this is a big surprise to me, and one of the more bolder theories I've seen these last few years. I'd say it would be perfect for the fourth faction to have secretely infiltrated the closing of the WBaWC saga related game, as it would justify them not appearing later. It helps that one of Zanmu's mates is even reliant on traps like what  they're supposed to excel at, while the sheer inisdiousness of her nothingness, which permeates the mind, may as well be considered poison for the soul, and a parasite that suck you dry for the purpose of the secret leader (Zanmu)'s ambitions. It's defensible, but at the same time there are still a lot of ambiguousness that work against that theory (would it make sense for example that someone as thorough and meticulous as Zanmu head a relatively small faction as background noise in the animal realm instead of going for broke and vying for supremacy, especially since she's demonstrated her ability to stand over the various Beast Matriarches ? Plus not hailing from the Beast Realm). But yes, a cool and somewhat defensible suggestion. I still hope we'll get a full fledged faction, tho ! (I've always wandered what's the deal with the fish spirits from WBaWC too, I'm am NOT saying they are related to the 4th faction, but they're so common yet insignificant ... we're probably never getting back to them so whatever)

Final conclusion 2

This is definitely my favorite interpretation from the analysis : the massive influx of spirits from the underworld ... yet they feel empty ? A bit weird if you consider that they should be vengeful spirits at large, coming from the depth and all ... shouldn't they at least have some kind of envy or bitterness towards the living ? Plus the language insinuating the emptiness within them, which seems like it could be the handiwork of Zanmu ... I think that the suggestion that the spirit boom being actually the handiwork of Zanmu makes more sense considering previous points brought by the analysis regarding Zanmu's powers and motives. UDoALG is primarily about the Beast spirits's scramble for real estate, but if the various Beast Matriarchs take action because Zanmu made things look as if it's the wild west with lots of land to conquer through the influx of suspicious empty spirits (that are probably under her influence, if we go by the analysis), thereby luring the various Beast Matriarchs into the rat race and try to infiltrate Gensokyo along with the wave empty spirits that Zanmu sent ? That would certainly reinforce Zanmu's position as the mastermind behind the incident this time, and that's without taking into account the possible additional nefarious motive of spreading her "influence" in Gensokyo.

It's an interesting interpretation, supported by the fact that Zanmu pretty much facilitated the various Beast leaders's meeting with their lieutenants before the proper beginning of the invasion. A bit of a shame that this all takes away from their sense of agency ... only question remain whether they were fully under Zanmu's influence straight at the absolute beginning or it's something that happens later.



So yeah a pretty thorough, comprehensive and educationnal analysis of UDoALG, all in all. It's a cool thing to see something like this in a time where you don't see much of these type of breakdowns nor theories. A shame ZUN doesn't give straights and satisfying clears answers, but I kinda hope the new book that's supposed to come in april is gonna give us additionnal information (instead of just fortunes) for the characters involved in this incident. This makes me rethink and change my settled view of UDoALG's story, so thanks and appreciate the hard work.

For you see, my dear reader, the title, 'Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost' refers to the American Dream. I **** you not.

HMMMM I wonder why it has ended in the land of fantasies and the forgotten

[williewillus]

I suggest you post your analysis inline into your forum post -- a google doc is inaccessible and can't be indexed by search engines, and if the google doc ever goes away we're going to lose the context for this post.

[CatointheMiddle]

Part 2: Zanmu and Reimu

In Part 1 of this analysis, I thoroughly examined various details of Touhou 19's story and plot, hoping to clear the air on a lot of points I feel are hard to catch on to in a cursory playthrough. In this second part I'm going to focus on Zanmu's characterization and explore the comparison the game makes between her and Reimu. In doing so I will go more in depth on the story's themes and hopefully make it clear what ZUN meant when he wrote in UDoALG's omake:

"While humans are too busy with AI, the beasts are building a world where they can live a spiritually rich life and really feal that they are alive - these fantasies are the theme of this game." [My Translation]

To start, let's talk about Zanmu's inspiration.

The Mysterious Oni and Shrine Maiden

The historical Zanmu Nippaku was a 1000-year-old immortal Taoist Buddhist monk who knew of events before they happened, repelled fire-monsters, and faked their own death. Well, if you could call any of that historical. [If you want to read more see this translation I made of the primary source we know of for this figure from the Honchou Shinsenkiden]
          This person, who supposedly lived in the Sengoku period's latter years (late 16th century), is about as obscure as historical figures get, but his name stands out. Even among Japanese names 'Zanmu' (残夢) is quite unique. 残夢, with the kanji for 'remaining/lingering' (残) and 'dream' (夢), can be interpreted to mean a few different things: 'Lingering Dream', 'Fleeting Dream', 'Unfulfilled Dream', or even 'Unfinished Dream' (yes like the title of the game).
          Perhaps it was a name he received when he became a monk - an expression of the transience of this material world, or maybe of the Buddhist belief that our life is in the long run a striving for freedom from suffering in the blissful nothingness of Nirvana (the metaphorical end of the fleeting dream called life in the wheel of samsara). It is said that 'Nippaku' (日白) was a name he took himself though, meaning either 'White Sun' or 'White Japan', or perhaps even 'The Sun's White Rays'. Perhaps he was declaring himself as a beacon of light - a wise man - amidst the cruel, ever-changing world of war that was Sengoku Japan.

His name understood this way holds meaning in Touhou 19, where the final boss Zanmu is clearly based on him. It must be pointed out though that the kanji of their first names differs. The game-Zanmu is written as 残無, with again the kanji for 'remaining/lingering' (残), but instead of the kanji for 'dream' (夢) the kanji for 'nothingness' (無) is used instead. ZUN says in an interview for UDoALG that this name means, 'nothing remains'. ZUN altered game-Zanmu's name from her inspiration in this way because her ability is the capability to manipulate nothingness; it was thematically appropriate. However, what if I told you that I think a part of the reason ZUN used the historical Zanmu Nippaku as the inspiration for game-Zanmu is precisely because of his curious name as it was originally written.
          Reimu's name is written in Japanese as 霊夢, which means 'revelatory dream'. Notice that the 'mu' of her name, 夢 (dream), is the same kanji used in the historical-Zanmu's name 残夢. I believe this isn't a mere coincidence, since the game explicitly goes out of its way to compare Zanmu with Reimu, and this juxtaposition of the two is arguably the central thematic element of UDoALG's story as a whole.
          Zanmu herself even says that Reimu reminds her of "her old self" (Reimu scenario) - reminds her of what she was like when alive in Sengoku period Japan and when her name was presumably still spelt with the kanji for 'dream' (夢). This is just a theory, but I imagine after she became enlightened (as is described in her character profile) to the world's "cruelty and tenaciousness" she changed her name to what we know it as (残無) to signal a break with that old self which she says Reimu reminds her of. And just in case anyone thinks I'm saying this with absolutely no proof, Zanmu's profile in the original Japanese actually spells her name as 残夢 twice when it says:

"Zanmu recalled the Sengoku Period. That cruelty is unneeded in Gensokyo.
Zanmu asked [the oni of hell] to wait a bit first, as she would handle [the incident in Gensokyo]" [My Translation]

You could interpret this as saying that Zanmu, when she remembered her past in Sengoku Japan, was briefly like her old self and so her name here is spelt in its old way.

Or ZUN just made an error, who knows.

The main point I want to illustrate with this line of thinking is that Zanmu is a representation of one of Reimu's possible futures. This implies that they are in some ways similar, which at face-value doesn't seem to be the case. However, there are indeed more than a few points resemblance between them:

• Zanmu thinks that she could entrust Gensokyo to Reimu because, "[Reimu] is honest with herself, and does not discriminate with the company she keeps. She is trusted by both humans and youkai. Above all, she is just like Zanmu when she herself was human" (Zanmu's Ending). To me this implies likewise that Zanmu when human was "honest with herself" and wasn't picky about who she hung out with. As stated in Zanmu's character profile she has also gained the trust of others as Reimu has (in Zanmu's case it is the trust of 'oni and beasts').
• They both desire peace and generally abhor mere violence, though aren't opposed to using it when necessary (SoPM is my source for Reimu's desire for peace, and Zanmu's character profile for hers).
• They are both condescending towards the beasts of the Animal Realm (for Reimu this can be seen in her scenario and for Zanmu basically any time she talks to a leader of one of the animal spirit factions).
• They both act as balancers for their respective realms (Zanmu's character profile for her role as balancer of hell, and Zanmu's ending says that because of Reimu it would be possible to live alongside the beasts in Gensokyo "harmoniously", which in the original Japanese is literally 'well-balanced').
• They both hold parties at their respective cribs after an incident (source for Zanmu is Hisami's ending). They also both like parties (source for Zanmu is Reimu's vs dialogue with her: "You've gotta stop having banquets at my shrine so often").
• They are both described on multiple occasions as 'mysterious' (in Japanese 不思議). In Zanmu's case she is described as mysterious in her own and Hisami's character profiles. Reimu is described this way in a few of her character titles, in her IN manual introduction entry, and even at the start of Zanmu's ending in UDoALG (and many more places besides).
• Their abilities (the ability to fly and the ability to manipulate nothingness) to me at least can be seen as similar. After all, Reimu's ability to fly is akin to her removing the influence of outside forces such as "gravity, any kind of stress and threats of power" to herself (IN manual profile). That is, to make them as nothing to her.
• Reimu, as a practitioner of Onmyōdō and as someone who 'goes with the flow', is, conceptually at least, closely tied with Taoism. Zanmu's 'historical' inspiration was also a Taoist.
• They are both bad at being what they profess to be. In Reimu's case she's bad at being a shrine maiden (she doesn't even know her own god's name), and human-era Zanmu is described as being a 'depraved Buddhist monk' (破戒僧) in her character profile.

More similar than you thought huh? The big question then becomes, 'How are they different?' The answer is the final key to this game's story and themes. To begin this comparison let us first dive deeper into Zanmu's character.

Kingdom of Nothingness

To start, I want to analyse the following from Zanmu's character profile:

"An extremely mysterious oni.
Originally, she was a depraved monk who had deviated from all the ways of this world.
Living through the Sengoku period, she perceived the world's cruelty and tenacity."

The part that says, "perceived the world's cruelty and tenacity", is of great interest. The word 'perceived' here in Japanese is 覚る ('satoru'), which is an alternate kanji reading for the Japanese word for Buddhist enlightenment 悟る. In my opinion this alternate reading is used because while this is a kind of enlightenment, it doesn't amount to the true enlightenment of a true Buddha. Zanmu is, after all, a false Buddha.

As a lengthy aside, I want to examine Zanmu's association with the Buddha a bit deeper. In the name of her theme, "The Deviants' Unobstructed Light", The phrase 'unobstructed light' in Japanese is 無礙光, which is a descriptor used in Buddhism for the light emitted from Amida Nyorai's body (a celestial Buddha central to Pure Land Buddhism). Zanmu is thus almost a divine, salvific light to the deviants and outcasts of hell.
          Her ability, too, is a reflection of her Buddhist influences. Nothingness (or 'void') in Buddhism can refer to the passing away of 煩悩 (worldly desires) and thus quietude of the soul. This is referenced quite clearly in Zanmu’s title as 寂滅為楽の王, 'The King of Quietude of Worldly Desires Leading to Bliss'. Nothingness in this context is the extinction of desire and the dissipation of doubt (迷い). ZUN says in his UDoALG interview that Zanmu doesn't actually 'desire' things per se, but does the things she does out of a sense of obligation, like a bodhisattva might do (or like Reimu does with her role in Gensokyo).
          Nothingness in Buddhism can also refer to the emptiness of things in the world. A part of enlightenment (悟り) is to realise the emptiness of things; that there is no self. This idea is obviously very deeply rooted in Buddhist thinking, philosophy and practice and is not something I have any expertise in, so take what I say here with a grain of salt. A Buddha can be said to be an individual who has ‘awakened’ to the truth of the world and self, and completely purified his mind of the three poisons of craving, aversion and ignorance. Thus, Buddhahood can be said to be the realisation that there is nothing bad to be avoided or good to be sought after within the world, which is to say the apprehension of the world’s emptiness and the aligning of one’s thoughts and emotions with this truth, thus attaining a knowledgeable peace and liberation from the sufferings of the world and samsara, achieving Nirvana.

Nothingness can also be seen to be a kind of purity, like the purity of the Lunarians. Think the orb that Zanmu gave Enoko which Seiran's scenario compares with the Lunar Orbs, or the curse Zanmu put on Enoko which made her almost immortal in a vein similar to the Lunarians. But Nothingness is also the Nothingness of hell: "Only Nothingness exists here [in hell]. Nothingness belongs to no one" (Reimu's ending). There Zanmu reigns, and only a harsh wind exists (a harsh wind which I suppose is representative of the 'worldly desires' which tormented the sinner while still alive, like the Circle of Lust in Dante's Inferno).
          One Nothingness is a purity from life and death, and the other is absolute impurity and death. One absolute control, and the other absolute freedom (see Hecatia's interview from AFiEU, which I will reference again later and I highly recommend you read). Does Nothingness rule them both? Are all within the palm of the Buddha (Zanmu)?

Getting back to my analysis of Zanmu's character profile. Zanmu achieved a kind of enlightenment when she "perceived the world's cruelty and tenaciousness". The word 'cruelty' here is actually Japanese wordplay which highlights the falsity of Zanmu's awakening from a Buddhist perspective. In the original Japanese, cruelty here is mujou (無情), but a different mujou (無常, meaning transience) is what a potential Buddha typically becomes enlightened to. So instead of perceiving the world's transience (mujou, 無常) like a typical Buddhist, Zanmu perceives the world's cruelty (mujou, 無情). No wonder she is called a "depraved monk".
          Zanmu also perceived the world's 'tenaciousness'. For the longest time I had no idea what this meant, but recently, while I was thinking random thoughts in my bed trying to get to sleep, I had an epiphany. Zanmu was sick of the suffering and violence of the Sengoku world which she lived in. Being sick of it she, deep down, harbored a faint hope that the world would someday break under the weight of all of that suffering. Because if the world broke war would cease, and peace could finally reign. But Zanmu after a while perceived that this hope was fundamentally mistaken. The world is much, much more stubborn than that. The world isn't just cruel, the world is tough enough to never break under the weight of cruelty. The suffering brought about by the fire of war can't be brought to an end just by waiting for that fire to burn itself out.

It is here that she was confronted with a dilemma:

"As a monk she was forbidden from killing, but felt a contradiction in the Sengoku world which took pride in kill counts."

This, combined with her enlightenment which I just discussed, led her to the following solution:

"She thought that if it were a spirit, that was not murder but salvation, and so took to absorbing the ghosts of humans and animals."

Presumably absorbing spirits was their 'salvation' because to a twisted Buddhist like Zanmu the complete dissolution of a spirit was the same as them being freed from the cruelty and suffering of the world. In this way she followed the philosophy of her time - that killing was something to be proud of - while also obeying her duty as a Buddhist monk to refrain from bloodshed. A cunning and bizarre solution. As a result:

"Maybe she absorbed the spirit of a beast youkai too, because as a result she cast aside her life as a human."

It's not clear why absorbing a beast youkai would turn her into an oni, but I think it's partially symbolic. In that UDoALG interview ZUN notes that beast youkai are typically selfish beings. By absorbing something like that Zanmu essentially took into herself that same selfish nature. Suika's ending says that Zanmu has a "self-righteous, oni-like personality", and further says:

"[Zanmu's] actions are invariably selfish.
They are never of altruistic intent...not even for Gensokyo's sake.
Oni are not such simple-minded youkai who work for the benefit of others."

In my eyes the key word here is 'self-righteous'. If we see Zanmu as fundamentally self-righteous, then it's not too difficult to reconcile the inherent friction between the idea that her actions "are never of altruistic intent" and that throughout UDoALG she is acting to preserve the peace in Gensokyo. She's not saving Gensokyo because she loves Gensokyo or the people in it but because it is in her nature to pursue Nothingness and the peace that follows, and in doing so self-righteously pushes her idea of peace onto others (as she arguably did when she convinced the oni of hell to abandon old hell).

Her idea of peace is the oblivion of spirit and memory; the freedom of the vast expanses of Hell where Nothing exists except death. It is a peace of fear, where the weak engage in escapism, and a peace of cult through her irresistible charisma. It is the peace of empty thought, not for rich and flourishing minds and the exchange of ideas. It is the peace of a "tightly controlled zoo" (Zanmu's ending). A peace for the dead, not for the living; a blind alley like hell itself. The Kingdom of Nothingness.

How does Reimu differ from all of this? In every way.

The World is Made in an Adorable Way

When confronted with her dilemma, Zanmu chose to kill spirits to free them from the cruelty of this world, but Reimu responded differently to her own dilemma. Reimu's duty as the Hakurei Shrine Maiden requires her to exterminate youkai and protect humans from them, in order to preserve the balance of Gensokyo. Youkai must be feared, so they must attack humans. But Gensokyo needs humans to fear youkai, so Reimu needs to exterminate them. But Reimu wishes "for a peace without violence" (SoPM) and doesn't actually want to kill anyone, be they human or youkai. And so, when presented with the opportunity, she adopted the spell card rules in order to avoid further bloodshed. She now merely puts up a front of exterminating (killing) youkai, and in return the youkai refrain from bloodshed of their own while still being able to satisfy their thirst for battle and maintain their status as symbols of fear. In so doing, Reimu fulfils both her obligation and desire in a way which is life-affirming, as opposed to Zanmu's answer which is life-denying.
          Of course, this balance she maintains is not perfect, and Reimu is willing to kill when the boundary between humans and youkai is threatened (see Fortune Teller), but such instances are the exception, not the rule.

In a more direct symbol of Reimu’s role as a balancer consider Grimoire of Usami, where Reimu’s duty is to conduct the danmaku festival in a way that’s safe for the human spectators. She is however directly challenged by Shinmyoumaru on this, who insists that danmaku that isn’t dangerous isn’t true danmaku, and doesn’t satisfy the youkai participants. So Reimu, in answer to this, presents her own danmaku which is at once dangerous but also perfectly safe, acting as the bridge between the safety of the villagers and the desires of the youkai.
          The key point here is that Reimu is able to maintain the clear boundary between humans and youkai while simultaneously acting as the bridge between them. She operates on that boundary in-between, as is natural for a shrine maiden who serves in the boundary between the mundane and the divine. She is not fundamentally a top-down enforcer, but the glue that holds Gensokyo together through the relationships and trust she invites by 'treating everyone equally' (SA, UFO and TD character profiles).

Reimu, as a human being, is also capable of genuine altruism in a way that Zanmu isn't. In Biten's ending, after Biten tells Reimu how Zanmu abandoned her, Reimu says:

"...That's a bitter experience.
But I feel like that's something that oni would do.
Are you okay?
You're welcome to come play at the shrine whenever."

It's just a small bit of consideration - and it turns out that Biten didn't need it at all - but I can't imagine Zanmu ever saying it (you know, the Zanmu who says that "weakness is evil" in Suika's scenario). It kind of reminds me of a kinder version of when Reimu recommended Nue to go to Byakuren to get help in UFO. Reimu is admittedly a selfish person, but it's moments like these that show she's more than just a greedy slob who sometimes beats up youkai for little reason (poor Tokiko and Kogasa).

Reimu is also, importantly, a dumbass; The Fool. She doesn’t carry out her role by virtue of a “genius intellect” (Suika’s ending) like Zanmu, nor with the force of Zanmu’s charisma. She also isn’t an inhuman ‘superhuman’ (in the sense that Zanmu is, or in the sense of Nietzsche's Übermensch), which is contrary to the impression early Windows era might give you (see Keine’s interview in BAiJR for an example). Forbidden Scrollery even mocks this idea in chapter 50 when possessed Kosuzu says:

“So in the end, even Reimu and Marisa… were just seeking to rule Gensokyo as superhumans.”

But the rest of Forbidden Scrollery shows how ridiculous this notion really is. Barely a chapter goes by where Reimu doesn’t screw up, get duped or humiliate herself. For heaven’s sake she was made a fool of by a kitsune child. Multiple times!

No, Reimu is capable of maintaining a peace that works for living creatures, while only being of average intelligence and without the charisma of a ruler. In fact I’d say it’s precisely because she’s like this that she’s ideal as Gensokyo’s protector. Someone who was too competent, too efficient, would gradually suck the life out of Gensokyo and turn it into a stagnant, unfun place. The person who is intelligent and traditionally competent in Gensokyo (Yukari) entrusts all of the day-to-day operations to her and only intervenes occasionally to give a helping hand (like I argue she did in UDoALG).

Zanmu’s ending says:

“Rather than see a wild Gensokyo devoured by apex predators,
[Zanmu] thought it would be safer to turn it into a tightly controlled zoo.
It was Reimu’s presence that changed her mind.
With Reimu, she thought, the animals would be able to live harmoniously in the wild without needing to be managed.”

This is shown rather clearly in the same ending where the three Animal Faction leaders and their underlings - mortal enemies - all come together at the shrine and just enjoy a banquet. If it's with Reimu, even these animals - slaves in a corporate dystopia that lives by the law of the strong eating the weak - can for a time put aside their rivalries and just have some fun.

"The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them." (Isaiah 11:6, just thought this quote was appropriate)

The deeper truth here is that Gensokyo is freer than the vast expanses of hell, because hell is free only in the sense that you can do whatever you want. But without boundaries, without trees and rocks and fireworks and good people and bad people and hope, what use is such freedom? In a place with Nothing you can't do anything fun, because having fun is something living creatures do in the world of real things.
          Gensokyo is accepting of all (see again Hecatia's interview in AFiEU) and so has infinite futures and potential. That's why fanworks and the like have such an easy time slotting into Touhou's existing setting, because in the realm of fantasy and forgotten things anything is possible. Gensokyo is this way because the person who holds it together is herself accepting of all. For Reimu the world is made in an adorable way because, to be cynical for a moment, Gensokyo is to a fantastical degree exactly the kind of place she wishes it to be; free, beautiful, and like a festival.
          And that is what I've recently come to understand about Touhou, and it is the way ZUN himself sees it nowadays (as he hints at in the UDoALG interview). Touhou is a Japanese festival. It's vaguely about faith, but is really about the human urge to come together and celebrate something. It's glittered with fireworks, like the dizzying patterns of danmaku (see GoU). It brings together thousands of people in very real festivals like Reitaisai, festivals which are celebrations of the doujin spirit of indie creation and passion. ZUN in the last few games (most obviously in 18.5) has been commemorating this spirit of Touhou which has always existed at its core.

To get a bit meta and out there for a moment, I'm going to say that Reimu as an idea is a symbol of the joy of festivities and artistic creation. To me the most fundamental basic images I have of Reimu are three:
          First, she is the protagonist of a shmup, where the patterns of bullets the characters make are first and foremost artistic creations that are expressions of the character themselves. The spell card system which Reimu adopted - which Touhou as a shmup was the first to introduce to the genre in EoSD - is at heart a contest of artistic creation and beauty.
          Second, she follows the anime/shounen archetype of befriending enemies after defeating them. What is unique about Reimu though is that she always does it by partying and drinking alcohol with them - the most ancient symbol of festivity.
          And lastly, Reimu is a red and white shrine maiden. CoLA chapter 14 says of this colour scheme:

"(White) can turn into any other color, which makes it a unique type of colour. If you were to give it a number, it would be "zero". On the other hand, red is the colour of human blood, so it also symbolizes life. It’s the colour of a human’s first perception of life, a color of genesis. You could think of it as existence itself.

So basically, red and white symbolize the distinction between existence and nothingness. That’s why the red-white boundary means “joyous” [and is used for joyous occasions and celebrations]. By using red and white mutually, this border is emphasized, and the borderline represents the beginning of all things. That’s why the ancient people thought of it as a good omen."

Reimu is called the "Human of many futures" by Zanmu because she is representative of beginnings, of possibility, and the vigor of life itself. Reimu herself can become anything:

"You have hidden within you [Reimu] infinite possibility." (Miko to Reimu in Reimu's good ending from Ten Desires) [My Translation]

That's why, in both canon and fanon, Reimu has more interpretations of her character than there are stars in the sky. But Zanmu, fallen to hell, has lost all possibility. Zanmu is simply herself - a self-righteous oni - and can't change her nature. The irony of her character is that her greatest desire is the future, but she doesn't actually have a future anymore. Her future is Nothingness, because having abandoned her humanity she is no longer capable of real change. When Suika's ending said Zanmu was at heart purely selfish, it meant it. Remember the main reason Zanmu entrusted Gensokyo to Reimu in the end was because Reimu reminded her of herself.

Having said that though, I have to give Zanmu this one thing. Deep down, she wanted somebody like Reimu to appear and upset her plans, a person filled with the hope and possibility that she herself must have had when she was still human - someone that would prove her way was not the best way. She says to Marisa (and Tsukasa) in Marisa's scenario:

"Don't make our battle turn out the way I planned.
Overcome empty thought [空想] with all you've got!" [Partly My Translation]

And if Marisa loses (also says the same with Orin and Mamizou), she says:

"The world keeps revolving as planned.
What a shame..."

Perhaps Zanmu is in some ways a victim of her own genius and ability. When Reimu - the one who flies over empty thought - appears before her, Zanmu is reminded of her past self. I think she lamented something she lost inside of herself when she gave up her humanity. To me this makes better sense of why she is willing to entrust Gensokyo to Reimu, as she is someone who reminds her of what she lost so long ago in the fires of the Sengoku period. If there is a personal dimension to the sense of lament and tragedy I can hear in Zanmu's theme, I believe it to be this. Zanmu never wanted to perceive the world as cruel and tenacious. I'm absolutely sure that, once upon a time, she wanted to see the world as Reimu sees it; as made in an adorable way.

The Beast King's Garden

Coming to the end of this analysis, I want to return to the quote from earlier:

"While humans are too busy with AI, the beasts are building a world where they can live a spiritually rich life and really feel that they are alive - these fantasies are the theme of this game."

That world in Touhou is Gensokyo. At the very end of the game Zanmu's ending is called:

"Ending No. 19      A Paradise Where the Rulers of Beasts Reside"

'Paradise' (楽園) in the original Japanese contains the kanji for 'garden' (園). In other words, the ending is explaining the meaning of the Japanese title for UDoALG, 'Beast King's Garden' (獣王園, Juuouen). The Beast Kings are the Animal Faction leaders since they appear in Zanmu's ending at the Hakurei Shrine. But the beasts are also Reimu (dog imagery) and Marisa (cat imagery) and Sanae (ang- errr bird? imagery) and all the beast youkai that appear throughout the game (which is to say basically everyone). And of course, the garden is Gensokyo.

ZUN says in the omake for UDoALG:

"Suddenly, when AI started its explosion around last year, the contrarian in me went "if AI takes over the world, the value of my creations will go up, relatively speaking." So I thought I would make a game that took as much work as possible. The result was this game."

He says similar things in his interview for UDoALG; the main thrust and motivation behind Touhou 19 was the urge to make something with as many characters possible. Touhou 19, being a versus shooter in the vein of PoFV, was also naturally something of a wrap-up game for the games, stories and themes that preceded it. It's a big festival celebrating modern Touhou. The 'beasts' of Gensokyo in UDoALG are, in ZUN's eyes, getting together in a big danmaku jamboree of crossing paths, motivations and storylines to make a grand finale to this story that started with WBaWC. In playing the game we glimpse for a moment that world those beasts are building, where "they live a spiritually rich life and really feel that they are alive".
          This Beast King's Garden called Gensokyo is made possible by Reimu, and it stands in stark contrast to another type of garden in the Animal Realm, the Primate Spirit Garden (霊長園). There the human spirits became enslaved to the technology and AI which Keiki's haniwa represent. That 'faction' was literally "too busy with AI" to make an appearance in the festival of UDoALG.

To end, I want to address the idea that Zanmu is in some way an allegory for AI. Maybe she is. Maybe she isn't. To be honest if she is an allegory it’s not a very clear one. But there is something I want to say about it.
          ZUN hints in his UDoALG interview that Zanmu in a sense only acts like everything is according to plan, because by doing so she convinces others that they really are within the palm of her hand and resistance is futile. The whole claim of generative AI is similar to this; it merely pretends that it can replace the work of human beings, and it is only when people - creatives and non-creatives alike - believe it that this becomes true. It is only by ceding our ability to think and hope that we embrace the Nothingness they both represent. For Zanmu that's her boring peace, and for generative AI it's the essential emptiness and meaninglessness of what they create.
          The truth about both Zanmu and AI is that neither of them can create real fantasy or art. They both operate in the hazy land of daydreams and empty thought [空想], or “imaginations based on more imaginations” as Rinnosuke says. And going back to Rinnosuke’s classification of imagination for a moment:

”The different kinds of imagination are ranked in the order: Empty Thought [空想], Delusion, Prediction, the Virtual [supposition/simulation], and Fantasy [幻想]." [My Translation]

AI and Zanmu can do a lot of incredible things, like generating delusions and predicting outcomes and virtually simulating parts of reality in their minds. But they can’t go further than the mere facts presented to them - beyond to the sky of fantasy. However attractive, strong or inevitable they appear they are at bottom empty. They cannot love or hope or dream, or act to make those dreams reality; to turn mere thought into something real and beautiful. And the reason why is obvious... neither of them are human beings. As Renko said to Maribel:

“Dreams and reality are different. That's why it's possible to make dreams into reality with hard work.
And that's why kids used to be able to smile.
Open your eyes! Dreams are things to be made into reality.
Let's make the world of dreams into reality!" (Renko in Changeability of Strange Dream)

Don't let your dreams remain unfinished.

Conclusion and Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading! I threw everything but the kitchen sink into this analysis, and as a result it's probably not as tight and readable as I'd like it to be, but like ZUN I really just needed to go all in for this one if only for my own sake. If there's anything you read here that you want me to clarify further, or disagree with something, or have further questions, please comment.

The interview ZUN did for UDoALG which I referenced a few times I'll link again here. I encourage you to read it if you're interested, because it's VERY interesting (or rather, ZUN himself and the way he thinks are interesting). There are admittedly a couple of points where some of my interpretation does not mesh with ZUN's stated intent - limited as that statement is in an interview format - and in such inconvenient instances I invoke death of the author because I'm obviously right and he's wrong.
          Of course, I'm joking (mostly). But what I'm about to say I say because while I love him, he frustrates me to no end. In that interview he says, and I quote, "A Sacred Place [like the Yamanba Sacred Place] refers to a location that belongs to no one." Now, I don't know if he was just confused or forgot the story of the game he just made, but Biten's character profile from UDoALG makes it explicit that a spirit owned the land of the Yamanba Sacred Place. Is it even possible to reconcile these two conflicting accounts? No really is it!?
          But that's just it isn't it? I couldn't have had this kind of 'conversation' with ZUN if he were an AI. And just as only a human being could have made UDoALG, only a human being could have written this analysis. If I didn't believe that would I still have written this? God only knows.

Thinking back, UDoALG reminds me of those bizarre mystery books written by Akyuu (or 'Agatha Chris Q.') from Forbidden Scrollery. It's a supernatural mystery where in order to solve it you kind of need all this extra esoteric knowledge that no regular English reader can fairly be expected to have, and even then if you arrive at the answer you think to yourself, "Well THAT was cool, but kinda bullsh**." Again, I'm joking. But when Umineko taught me that you need to love the author in order to solve their mystery novel I didn't realise just HOW MUCH I needed to love them. For heaven's sake I've been thinking about and planning for this analysis on and off basically since the day the game came out, and it was only while writing it that I realised the answer to a question that's always bugged me. I must warn you that this final theory is the most out there of all the theories I have presented thus far, but I really do believe it's true.

Two passages have always perplexed me. The first is from Ran's (and Orin's) scenario. Orin says to Ran:

"It seems like new phantoms are coming out
from the depths far below.
...
They are like empty shells of vengeful spirits
whose grudges have faded away...
Do you understand it, this feeling of dissatisfaction and emptiness?" [Spliced from the same conversation in both Ran and Orin's scenarios]

From the surrounding context, Orin means that a bunch of the non-Animal Realm spirits infesting the underground are actually newly arrived spirits coming from the old Hell of Blood Pools. Not just that but, using terminology which is very clearly designed to make one think of Zanmu, they are like 'empty shells'. This is the only reference in the entire game to this phenomenon. There isn't anything else even remotely similar to it.

The other line that perplexed me is from Ran's ending, here's the full context:

"Yukari: Simply put, this incident was a natural phenomenon?
Ran: Yes
A mere seasonal flood of phantoms.
At the same time, the Market God stripped the land ownership.
In other words, returned it to the gods. These two events overlapped...
Yukari: And the phantoms scrambled for the land.
Ran: Yes
Yukari: I understand. This is fine [for our purposes]"

Huh? A mere, seasonal, flood, of phantoms, Ran? What is this PoFV?
          This mention of a "seasonal flood of phantoms" is the only instance of its kind in the entire game. For the longest time I just couldn't, nay, refused to see what Ran's line here suggested. But it all comes down to what I said at the end of Part 1 of this analysis. Yukari heard Ran give this explanation of the incident, and more or less said it was fine for their purposes. In other words, Yukari is implying that Ran is wrong. The flood of spirits fighting over the land in Gensokyo - their sheer number - is not a 'seasonal' nor coincidental occurrence. It was planned.

Let's go back to a different part of that conversation between Ran and Orin, where Orin, misunderstanding the meaning of the flood of spirits, says:

"Incident...
Ah, you must mean the Great Phantasmagorial Release Festival?
It's the best!
The scent of death was everywhere!
I never thought there'd be such a fancy
event on the surface.
Who's the organizer?
Could it be that one from your place?"

Orin is wrong that such a festival is taking place (or even exists), but she actually cuts to the heart of the matter. Who IS the organiser? Where did this massive influx of non-Animal Realm spirits come from?
          It was Zanmu. How else are you to interpret those spirits like 'husks' which appeared from the old Hell of Blood Pools, the place where one of Zanmu's co-conspirators, Chiyari, dwells. Spirits who made Orin feel dissatisfaction and emptiness (虚無感). Spirits, nameless and unimportant, who also participated in the grab for land, among whom some actually managed to settle in after the Animal Factions were too busy fighting each other. Spirits who have Zanmu's mark on them…
          That's ******* right! Zanmu sent in spirit proxies to possess the land of Gensokyo, so that when the time came she could make Gensokyo "a part of hell" (Zanmu's ending) through those very spirits. Whether she sent them in by teleportation from hell (like the transportation traps her co-conspirators carry) or however she did it, there was a fourth secret faction of spirits that were, in some way or another, under her control. I mean holy hell that crazy theory about Zanmu being the shadow leader of that fourth, unknown faction in the Animal Realm is starting to sound not so crazy (but I'm not going to go that far).

And now you see the truth, Zanmu WAS the mastermind. She wasn't merely somebody who sought to quell the ambitions of the three Animal Factions, but someone who in a very tangible way contributed to the incident itself.

For all was within the palm of her hand from the very beginning.

"Zanmu: You. Living human.
You stand before Zanmu Nippaku.
What sort of matter brought you to this world of nothingness?
Reimu: You are the one who's controlling the beast spirits to take over the surface, right?
I, Reimu Hakurei, am here to exterminate you!
Zanmu: Me, controlling beast spirits... Taking over the surface...?
Heh-heh-heh.
I haven't committed anything of the sort yet.
Nor do I ever intend to.
Have you come before me to solve an incident that has not yet even occurred?
Reimu: What on earth are you talking about...?
Don't try to fool me. It's just my hunch [intuition], but you seem like you'd do something like that."

And Reimu's hunches are never wrong.

END

[CatointheMiddle]

This is a bit of an impression of mine, but WaHH kinda gave me the impression that we could draw a triangle that links human, hermits and onis, as in whereas hermits are humans who've controlled their desires to an unnatural extent, onis are those who've givven into them to an extreme extent. Lingering spirits generally have a bit of desire to them, even moreso for the wild and selfish animal spirits such as those in WBaWC, so I wouldn't be too surprised if that helped(?) her into getting progressively becoming an oni. Food for thought, unceratain of the pertinence of my reflexion here, but aside from that, I'm more interested in how Biten, an Youkai, would get close to Oni-fication herself rather than Zanmu.

This is a topic I've never really known how to approach. For a while there I assumed that the reason Zanmu and Biten became oni was because they absorbed the spirits of human beings (since oni are typically man-eating monsters), but I realised I had misremembered Zanmu's profile on that point so that theory went out the window.

I also considered that, related to my first theory, if someone committed a sin deep enough (in the Touhou universe) they had the potential for turning into an oni. In Biten's case this was eating the spirit in the Yamanba's Sacred Land, since the story makes it a point that that sin put her in grave danger of falling to hell (see her profile and words in Sanae's route). However, Zanmu doesn't really make sense in this theory since her profile speculates it was her eating a Youkai Beast that transformed her.

But after reconsidering the matter today, I thought perhaps it was the combination of a human nature, a beast nature, and a youkai nature which produces an oni. If this theory were true it would explain both Zanmu and Biten's transformations. Zanmu because she is a human who absorbed a Youkai Beast, and Biten because she was a monkey who presumably was near to becoming a Youkai (remember it was her specifically out of all the monkeys in the Sacred Land who Zanmu egged on to eat the spirit and she had the intelligence to understand such provocations) and who ate what was presumably the spirit of a human (since it only ever gets called by the generic term 'spirit').

There is actually some circumstantial evidence which supports this theory. In Suika's scenario Zanmu says, "Brawn and brains are what oni are all about." Zanmu herself exemplifies this, as a powerful 'intelligentsia' oni. In the sense that oni have immense strength and immense cunning, an oni exemplifies both the animalistic (strength) and the human (cunning). Zanmu's character design also reflects this, with the top of her hair straight and civilised while the ends are ragged and animalistic. Reimu's ending says of Zanmu and oni:

"An enemy who is also an ally. She's the seed of anxiety, but also feels reassuring.
If this is what oni are,
Neither humans nor animals stand a chance against them."

Oni are literally beings that in some way transcend humans and beasts as some kind of Übermensch. ZUN says something very similar to this in his UDoALG interview as well. In that sense an oni is, as you said, a human who has given reign to their desires to an extreme extent like an animal, but while simultaneously retaining their cunning and clear-headedness (they don't necessarily drown in their desires, they can master them with the force of their personality). But having gone that far oni are also beings who can transcend their desires, as ZUN notes that Zanmu doesn't really have desire per se, and is rather irresponsible as a result. As I mentioned in my analysis as well, oni are also self-righteous and selfish (as noted in Suika's ending), which fits with all of this.

This applies to Son Biten as well, as she is clearly quite powerful and vigorous, in a carefree and irresponsible kind of way. Even when something supposedly bad happens to her (Zanmu 'abandoning' her in her route) it doesn't bother her at all, in fact she thinks Zanmu is "extremely cool" for doing such a thing.

And, though I haven't read Journey to the West, I'm not surprised that ZUN made his Wukong stand-in an oni. I mean, if you read about how absurdly powerful and how much of a force of personality Sun Wukong had in the original myth he literally SOUNDS like an oni from Touhou.

Well, those are all the thoughts I have on this topic, though I feel there's more to it I'm not seeing.