> "Huh. Are you good in a fight?"

>"I've defended the library on occasion!" Koa says.
>Given the things Marisa has told you, that's a no.

>_

All I got from that was another "Touhou is dying" rant, of which there have been many the past ten years.

I'm not going to respond there because I don't have an account and don't care to make one there, but....

Have you noticed that something is not right? Have you noticed that there are much less new Touhou fangames, doujinshi and doujin music than for example 8 years ago? Have you noticed that a lot of new fan content is nearly unnoticed? Have you noticed that fandom is not united and split? Have you noticed that last Touhou games are rushed and story is less well-written?

Opening with a bunch of fearmongering is great! Citation needed for literally every single point here. Last point is subjective.

The fandom is divided in small little circles and cliques which rarely interact with each other. And each of them has its own vision of Touhou

Why is this bad? Why does there have to be a unified hivemind community?

The fact that there is so much diversity in the community is a strength, NOT a weakness as this implies.

The fandom knows nearly nothing about itself.

This section of the post is just a general outcome of moving things to closed platforms like Facebook/Discord/Twitter/Bilibili/whatever instead of using open platforms like forums. So use forums more if this concerns you. (I'm doing my part here).

a commercial franchise based on doujin games.

Probably the only section of that post that has a fair point. Nothing to say here other than I believe the doujin spirit is still there for ZUN, but he delegates too much to other people. He's stated before he hates dealing with legal matters, but it's an unavoidable thing you have to deal with once your franchise gets big.

Len'en Project

Funny for the OP to mention Len'en when Jynx has literally overworked himself into health problems working on the series. What is being advocated for here?

we are sinking in the same boat (no matter you like it or not).

This sums up my overall feeling about this post, which is that it is 1) overly pessimistic and alarmist, and 2) does not provide any realistic actionable steps.

In the end, it's "just" a whimsical series about magical girls shooting bullets. I love Touhou with all my heart but honestly the people concern-posting here need to go touch grass.

The only takeaway from that post is something that has guided Touhou fans for the past 20 years or more: If you want to see something, make it. It's that simple.

On the human village side of things, I actually disagree with the feudal japan aspect that often get brought up :

This might seem like zooming too much on the "feudal" aspect of things, but people's place and role in a feudal society was pretty much dictated by their class, yet the human village doesn't have the all of the various social classes that consitute said social system : there's no leader figure (if we go by Forbidden Scrollery) in the political sense, and no evidence of the presence of a ruling class to be at the top of the social ladder ; furthermore there's also no samurai nor warrior class, as not only there's no ruling class for them to serve, but also because anything that would require martial prowess is actually handled by literal superhumans and heroes.

This means there isn't a proper governing body either in the human village, and quite possibly none of the bureaucracy that comes with it's organisation : so, unlike poor Peasantosuke who's tirelessly working the field to pay taxes and feed the family before getting conscripted for a war against Warlordjirou, or the questionable Vagrantarou who is trying to make a breakthrough in order to climb the social ladder and directly serve under the ruling class, the average human villager should have more freedom and less authority breathing down their neck compared to their real life counterparts. I'd expect the human villagers to just do their daily tasks (there are some farmlands in some places so there is probably farming going on) then hit the pub or something.

Furthermore, human villagers can enjoy the medicine of Eientei, occasionally patron a Zashiki Warashi for taking care of the house, may or may not enjoy the conveniences of kappa wares, and those lucky enough may occasionally enjoy the novelty from foreign imports. There doesn't seem to be banditry to worry about, and there are reliable people with superpowers that are always ready to handle business whenever needed. So, aside from occasionally shaking in their straw sandals whenever there are any suspicious supernatural activity that boggles the mind (or could be blamed on youkai), or besides needing to get behind the human village's gates before dark, there doesn't seem to be a lot of worries in the daily life of the human villager.

As for whom to seek guidance from, human villagers actually have it pretty easy since the people and "institutions" they should trust are pretty clear in what they do : there is the temple school for the education of the children, there is the storied household of Hieda for matters pertaining to serious counsel and extra education , and most important of all, the religious leaders, who obviously hold a lot of authority on moral matters since gods and deities literally exist and occasionally pass by : not only can the average human villager experience very practical benefits or witness very real consequences when doing as the religious leader say, but can also experience a new and different lifestyle depending on the religion or the ascetic practice that they choose to diligently follow (going by Miko's aspirant disciples and Byakuren's human followers). Human village people are VERY superstitious and revere the divine, considering how impactful and real it is, so practices and tradition that have anything to do with whatever superstitions are also going to have an important place in the human villager's psyche and daily life.

Anyway, when it comes to mundane life, there is actually a lot of activity and excitement for the humans : you have the gossips from either the dumb newspaper or socializing places that may or may not have some raccoon activity ; you have the festivities and celebrations that are held quite often by the Shrines and the temple, which tend to have stalls that are manned by those nefarious Youkai and fairies, so obviously exciting ; you have the various bars and food vendors, or even whatever fun place there may be in the village (such as Madame Komakusa's gambling den) ; and also simply the possibility of exploring Gensokyo for those who dare. All in all, plenty of good time to be had, while people that wander from outside may be bored by the lack of more modern entertainment (no internet, no TV, actually experiencing the boonies, yikes).

All in all, rather than being feudal japan like, I think it's more correct to say that life in the human village is more similar to that of a very big rural community that's quite behind only in technological aspects, heavy in traditionnal and religious undertones, with the occasional out of place tool or way of thinking. So it's somewhat like the amish except more japanese, more cuteness, more faith, and more magic.

"Feudal japan" aspects can only be purely on the aesthetic side of things, with little bearing on how their society should work.

> "Huh. Are you good in a fight?"

> Looking through the documents something clicks and you have an epiphany.  The grave robberies are linked to mysterious disappearances and deaths!  Each grave robbery appears to have a matching disappearance/death file in which all the descriptions (height, gender) match!

> Putting two and two together you ponder why the cases were first labeled as "grave robberies"?  Graves usually contain bones and occasionally valuables depending on cultural practices, you assume it'd be rather obvious to discern between a "mysterious death" and a "grave robbery".  Unless... only skeletons were found, leading the guards to assume a grave robbery took place?

   

> Ah, so as suspected,  it is more along the lines of "guards and inspectors chalked it down to Grave Robberies instead of Mysteriously-Motivated-Enticed-Provoked grave-sites Trespassing&Searching "!

> Determing the " Timing and Placing Distance" between matching cases is important too...

>... as well noting the most recent matching ones, particulary IF there is any " Supposed Grave Robbers not yet Mysteriously Murdered"...

> ... This also means, after verification. that on one hand the "Matching Mystery cases " are finished or almost  BUT on other any next "New Mystery Murder Act"  is bound "to have a Linked-Prelude linking  to. Suspected Grave-Robberies "" BUT "so far it is Mystery-Murder Overshadowed"...

>... can all of this be, especially the last analysis be cross-checked,  cirmustanciated, confirmed proved at this point?