Touhou Musou Kakyou



Known in full as Touhou Niji Sousaku Doujin Anime: Musou Kakyou ~A Summer Day's Dream~, this series is a Fanime based off of the popular Touhou games. However, unlike most Fanime discussed here, this one has a significant difference: it was produced by the well-known doujin group MAIKAZE, who managed to gain a lot of notoriety with the project by roping in some very big-name seiyuu to help out.

It's springtime in Gensokyo, and Reimu is preparing for the annual feast. But something is amiss, as she soon finds out -- the Hakurei Shrine's donation box has been stolen! And it's not just there, either; the Scarlet Devil Mansion and its library have been robbed as well. With the help of Marisa and Aya, can Reimu get to the bottom of this incident before the feast is ruined?

The first episode was released at Comiket 75, on December 29th, 2008; two more episodes are planned, with the next episode due out some time in 2011, with a trailer ready to stoke attention... and it hadn't even come out despite the year already passed. It should be noted that the series was originally titled the Touhou Anime Project, but was changed to its current name after ZUN, the creator of the games, expressed concern over it being mistaken for an official product.

The site for the first episode can be found here (in Japanese.) A PV for the second episode can be found here.

This anime provides examples of:

 * All Star Cast: See the Touhou Wiki entry for a complete list and links to their Anime News Network articles. Notably, Aki Toyosaki (as Suika) was the least well-known member of the cast at the time the video was released, about four months before her breakout role as Yui in K-On!.
 * This is more than likely the real reason for the delays--having to pay to use these big names probably isn't cheap as well has having having the time to do voice-work for a work like this.
 * Art Evolution: From what can be seen from the trailer, there is a noticeable bump in the animation quality from episode one to episode two. Could actually justify the overly long wait for its release.
 * Berserk Button: Patchy does not take kindly to getting hit in the face with one of her own books. At all.
 * Blackmail: Aya does this to Marisa to get her into helping her and Reimu out, complete with pink sparkles in the background.
 * The Cameo: Hong Meiling. Also, silhouettes of Cirno and Rumia appear in the Eye Catches.
 * Casting Gag: It's too obvious why they choose Rie Tanaka (Sakuya) for voicing a maid.
 * Conspicuously Light Patch
 * Cute Little Fangs: Remilia being she's a vampire. Also Suika.
 * Development Hell: The second and third episodes languished here for a while, but with the second episode trailer being released, there may be hope yet for it to finish.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: When Aya accidentally hits Patchouli with a book, she takes it out on Reimu, who was trying to interrogate her about her missing donation box, by busting out her Royal Flare spell card. Reimu doesn't really hold back when retaliating either.
 * Really, this is Gensokyo. Disproportionate retribution is the name of the game here.
 * I thought Touhou was the name of the game.
 * Elemental Powers: Patchouli is an elementalist after all. So far we've only seen her create an earth wall and use her Sun Sign: Royal Flare spellcard, but hopefully she'll stick around for episode two and show us why she's called the One-Week Wizard.
 * Freudian Slip: Sakuya at one point almost referred Meiling as "China", before correcting it.
 * Genki Girl: Aya, almost aggressively so.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom: Patchy upon getting up after getting a book to the face. Uh oh...
 * Heavy Sleeper: Meiling, who doesn't even wake up and notice Aya is right in front of her taking pictures.
 * Hey Its That Voice:
 * Suika is Yui!.
 * Reimu is the cleaver girl!
 * Sakuya is Lacus Clyne
 * Marisa is Mint Blanchmanche
 * I Believe I Can Fly: It is Touhou after all. However, special mention must go to Aya. As a Tengu, she can be mistaken as a jet when seen from a distance.
 * Jerkass: Reimu. She goes to the SDM in order to unfairly accuse Patchouli of stealing her donation box, and completely expects her to continue their conversation when Patchy clearly just got struck by a heavy book to the face.
 * Names to Know In Anime: Rie Tanaka (Sakuya), Kikuko Inoue (the narrator), and Mai Nakahara (Reimu), among others.
 * No Export for You: There are English subtitles, thanks in part to KirbyM. So, for all you English-speaking fans that want to support MAIKAZE and hopefully push the second and third episodes out of Development Hell... good luck with that. Almost none of the retailers who stock the first disc ship internationally.
 * Off Model: There are a few instances of weird reflections and extra fingers.
 * Promoted Fanboy: KirbyM, better known as the creator of the popular Walfas fansite, was specifically asked to help with the official English subtitles for the DVD release.
 * Real Song Theme Tune: The opening theme is a shortened version of one of Maikaze's earlier tracks, which was part of an album they had released at the 5th Reitaisai event, 7 months before Comiket 75, when this work was released.
 * Relationship Voice Actor: They haven't directly interacted with each other, but Marisa and Sakuya are Shinkuu and Suigintou respectively
 * And then there's Yukari and Reimu (if the Epileptic Trees prove to be true), who are Sanae and Nagisa respectively.
 * Reimu and Marisa are Yggdra and Milanor respectively.
 * Scenery Porn: Even though the character animation may have some problems, the background art is outstanding.
 * Shout Out: One of the books in the first shot of the Voile Library is titled Wikipedia.
 * It's one of the skinniest books on the shelf.
 * Theme Tune Cameo: Suika can be heard humming the Theme Song when helping Reimu in the storehouse.
 * Throw the Book At Them: Patchouli gets one in the face when Marisa and Aya start arguing (and she even goes 'mukyuu!' as she falls over.) It doesn't go over well with her, to say the least.