Touhou Project Popularity Poll 2026

 

 

 

 This image is posted on my pixiv page: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/148793941

 

 

The Touhou Project popularity poll 2025 is now open!

東方Project人気投票開幕！

https://toho-vote.info/

The original image is posted on my pixiv page: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/148722106

The 1st choice gets 3 points, the 2nd gets 2 points, and the rest 5 choices get 1 point for each. I am planning to vote in the following order:

1. Youmu Konpaku 魂魄妖夢: Myon-chan みょんちゃん! She made me love Touhou Project! I simply love her diligent personality as well as her adorable image. Also, strong and reliable as a playable unit! Her caring personality, cooking skill, her habit especially, and so many others about her really attract me very much! Her clumsiness also makes me familiar with her.

2. Megumu Iizunamaru 飯綱丸龍: Iizunamaru-sama is a respectable as well as gorgeous lady with high intelligence and strong charisma! She resembles to one of my favourite female philosophers to a certain extend. Her honest egoism makes me familiar as well as herself kinda sexy.

3. Sanae Kochiya 東風谷早苗: Sanae-san is my favourite shrine maiden in this series. She is also adorable, amiable, and diligent! Her intelligence and ability of attracting an investment to establish a rope-way connecting Moriya shirine and a human commune in Youkai mountain! She also shares some hobby and interests with me. Her maniac personality also makes me familiar with her.

4. Youki Konpaku 魂魄妖忌: Youmu's grandpa. One of few male characters in Touhou Project. A dandy strong handsome old man with a strong Samurai spirit! His grand-daughter Myon-chan (Youmu) was brought up as such a nice as well as an excellent guard of Lady Yuyuko at Hakugyokurou because of him! Yuyu also counted on him when he was there although she found he is too inflexible.

5.Yuyuko Saigyouji 西行寺幽々子: A stunning and intelligent lady, the chief administrator of Hakugyokurou, the ghost shrine i.e. A boss of Konpaku family. Her mysterious past and calm tolerant personality are attracting. Even though I feel sorry about her subordinate Myon-chan (Youmu) under her severe workloads, Yuyu cares about and admire Myon-chan as her excellent guard as well as maid.

6. Misumaru Tamatsukuri 玉造魅須丸: An important character explaining about the fate of the main protagonist Reimu Hakurei , her weapon Yin-Yang sphere, and Izanagi Object, the mysterious energy source. Also, what she explain links the ancient Shintoism and the Touhou Project world. "Misumaru-No-Tama" is one of the phrase in Katakamuna-utahi, the ancient Shintoist mantra, which I enchant often. 

7.  Yuiman Asama ユイマン浅間: A new character using "snake" (I'm sure it's Python Programming!) to process big data. Her appearance and BGM are sexy and cool! It is a good surprise that a character using Python to process Big Data appears in Touhou Project! I am sincerely impressed by ZUN's creativity! Her cool beauty with this fashionable avant-garde costume, unlike many other characters in Touhou Project wearing a retro costume, entices our attention.

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Titles

1. Ten Desires: So many good surprises! Both Myon-chan and Sanae-san are the playables!  Yuyu-sama is the first boss! My most favourite BGM "Desire Drive" in Seiga's stage on the way! The provocative Gouzoku trio! It's the unforgetable title ever!

2.  Unconnected Marketeers: This is a really important turning point of this entire series as there are many important factors related to the world-view and the philosophy of Touhou Project are mentioned. Also, two of my favourite characters are from this title. 

3. Perfect Cherry Blossom: Many of my favourite characters are from this title. "Myon!" 

4. Mountain of Faith: Sanae-san 

5. Fossilized Wonders: I found the story setting was shocking when I heard about it. The creativity of ZUN still prevails with the contemporary topic such as the big data and the hallucination!  

Background Music 

1. Desire Drive: My most favourite Touhou BGM which I also use the arranged BGM in my own YMM4 movies! 

2. Youkai Mountain ~ Mysterious Mountain:  神曲！

3. Faith Is for the Transient People: Sanae-san ♡ This music really describes her determination and diligent personality. 

4. Hiroari Shoots a Strange Bird ~ Till When?: Myon-chan and Youki-ojisama ♡ I really love these BGMs and characters from Touhou 7 ~ Perfect Cherry Blossoms 

5. Reminiscence of Deer Hunting:  Yuiman's appearance and BGM are both sexy and cool! It is a good surprise that a character using Python to process Big Data appears in Touhou Project! I am sincerely impressed by ZUN's creativity! 

6. Border of Life : I use the arranged BGM in my own YMM4 movies!  I really love these BGMs and characters from Touhou 7 ~ Perfect Cherry Blossoms 

7. Shoutoku Legend ~ True Administrator:  Even though the stage is of my unforgetable enemy character, the BGM is super cool! 

8. Ultimate Truth: The BGM of the scene where Myon-chan (Youmu) pursues the playable even she was wounded. Also showing the playable's tension before reaching the really strong and stunning boss Yuyuko-sama.  I really love these BGMs and characters from Touhou 7 ~ Perfect Cherry Blossoms 

9. Eastern Ghostly Dream ~ Ancient Temple :  Myon-chan ♡  I also use the arranged BGM in my own YMM4 movies! 

10. The Obsolescent Industrial Remains:  
Really wonderful BGMs inspiring for the remarkable story setting for this important turning point of the entire Touhou series, Touhuo 18 ~ Unconnected Market. 

Prompt for the AI-synthetic illustration: 

AI synthetic Touhou fan-art: Aya Shameimaru, Megumu Iizunamaru, Hatate Himekaidou water-playing at the river of Yokai mountain - Tool: ChatGPT plus

The heatwave effect still prolongs here, and I have been too tired of my main research task to anything productive other than very essential now. 

Yet, I still want to keep posting my Touhou Project fan-art as the Touhou Project popularity poll is going to be open from 21 to 28 August this year.

Then, I have asked ChatGPT plus to redraw one of my old illustration following the prompt shown below. 

Aya Shameimaru, Megumu Iizunamaru & Hatate Himekaidou

 

Click the image to enlarge.

The image is posted on my pixiv page:https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/148487348

Original image:
Pixiv — Artwork 121317998
Aya Shameimaru, Megumu Iizunamaru & Hatate — Original Blogger Post

 

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Mountain Stream Tengu Illustration Prompt

Overall Art Direction

Redraw and refine the supplied illustration as a highly polished contemporary Japanese anime illustration with luminous, richly rendered colouring, delicate linework, soft dimensional shading, and an exceptionally refined digital-painting finish.

Use the attached image as the main visual basis and preserve its:

• overall mountain-stream setting

• three-character arrangement

• left-to-right storytelling

• pose relationships

• facial expressions

• colour atmosphere

• water rendering

• lighting direction

• dynamic energy

• humorous mood

• camera distance

• approximate character scale

• overall spatial staging

Keep the image as close as possible to the attached version while correcting the remaining anatomical and design issues described below.

Render all three figures clearly as adult winged mountain-spirit women with mature proportions and a clean, polished contemporary anime finish.

Their designs should remain originalised folklore-inspired fantasy designs rather than explicitly named copyrighted characters.

Maintain the original visual concept and humorous character interaction while improving:

• anatomy

• proportions

• facial construction

• hands

• limbs

• hair flow

• wings

• swimwear construction

• accessories

• lighting

• skin rendering

• water effects

• environmental detail

wherever necessary for a more natural, balanced, and professionally illustrated result.

Allow small adjustments to posture, limb placement, hair, wings, clothing, and accessories where necessary to correct anatomy or strengthen visual balance, but do not fundamentally alter:

• the original scene

• left-to-right character arrangement

• storytelling

• camera placement

• pose relationships

• existing figure-size relationships

Do not introduce exaggerated perspective, dramatic wide-angle distortion, or major character repositioning simply to create additional depth.

Preserve the source image's moderate perspective and character-scale balance:

left reporter slightly closer → centre commander at the primary middle distance → right photographer modestly farther back

The differences in apparent scale should remain restrained and consistent with the reference.

Use smooth and sophisticated contemporary anime rendering with:

• carefully controlled line weight

• thin-to-medium tapered outlines

• subtle painterly gradients

• clean colour transitions

• soft ambient occlusion

• delicate reflected colour

• finely layered highlights

• softly dimensional form modelling

• controlled environmental reflections

• luminous warm skin tones

• transparent water droplets

• damp hair highlights

• warm sunlight interacting with cool stream reflections

Avoid excessively flat cel shading.

Avoid heavy photorealism.

The characters should possess a gentle three-dimensional presence while remaining unmistakably anime in design.

A major visual priority should be the interaction between:

soft luminous skin + transparent water droplets + bright summer sunlight + damp hair + reflected blue-green stream light

RIP Bonnie Tyler - Holding out of a Hero

 

RIP Bonnie Tyler. I love your song "Holding out of a Hero (♬ I need a hero! ♬" which is considered as one of my theme songs! The history moves on as the legend in the golden age of the Western pop music has passed away.  

AI synthetic Touhou fan-art: Yuyuko Saigyoji in Hakugyokurou - Tool: ChatGPT plus

I am still tremendously busy with my current main researcher job as I am in the middle of the research project under a strict supervision for the time being. 

Also, the heatwave has come again, which is currently draining my energy and motivation for many thing on the top of it. 

Therefore, I am playing with the AI again to make the synthetic art experiment.  

As the Touhou Project popularity poll is going to be open from 21 to 28 August this year, I want to advertise for one of my favourite characters I will vote, Yuyuko Saigyouji together with my top favourite Myon-chan (Youmu Konpaku).  I want to support both characters from Hakugyokurou to increase and sustain their popularity! 

Yuyuko Saigyouji ("Yuyu-sama")

Click the image to enlarge.
The image is posted on my pixiv page: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/148439873

Original image:
Pixiv — Artwork 124575093
Yuyuko-sama — Posing for Modelling

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Elegant Pink-Haired Ghostly Noblewoman Illustration Prompt

Overall Art Direction

Redraw this illustration as a polished early-to-mid-1990s Japanese fantasy RPG key illustration, reflecting the elegant visual language of Japanese fantasy strategy games, anime illustration books, and romantic shōjo-fantasy artwork from approximately 1991–1995.

Improve the line quality, anatomy, proportions, and shading while preserving the original composition.

Keep the original background, colour scheme, character pose, figure placement, and overall composition intact.

The finished artwork should feel like a refined Japanese fantasy game illustration or premium anime visual collection piece from the early-to-mid 1990s, with elegant linework, softly dimensional colouring, and a slightly romantic shōjo-fantasy atmosphere.

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Facial Design

The facial rendering should lean slightly toward a graceful shōjo-fantasy sensibility.

Do not render the eyes in an excessively sharp, severe, or strongly shōnen-manga style.

Keep the eyes elegant, luminous, softly shaped, and emotionally readable.

Use delicate facial features, graceful eyelashes, softly layered irises, and controlled highlights without making the eyes oversized or excessively modern in appearance.

Her expression should appear graceful, serene, mysterious, and gently playful.

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Canvas and Aspect Ratio

Use a landscape composition with a width-to-height aspect ratio of 1.414:1, matching the international A-series paper proportion and suitable for high-quality A3 or A4 printing.

My pencil drawing of Myonchan (Youmu Konpaku) - Touhou Project fan-art.

 

Posted on my pixiv page: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/148229878
My pencil drawing of Myonchan (Youmu Konpaku) - Touhou Project fan-art.
I'm voting for her in my top pick of Touhou Project popularity poll coming this month, this year too.

After this experiment, I have recently started the tablet compatible with CLIP STUDIO PAINT again: There are some manoeuvres capable with my direct pencil input. But, the problem is the cost and the possibility to get the one I want. Also, my drawing quality varies depending on my condition too.

Well, I enjoy using the pen-tablet, but I sometimes face its limitations of drawing lines, e.g. hatching, and brush manoeuvre. After having your feedback, I may consider investing for the graphic tablet with screen at some point.

Yet, I am less likely to afford to purchase and spare enough time for playing with the screen tablet this year. My current strategy is continuing with analogue drawing for scenery sketching and the digital painting with the current environment with the pen tablet for something more easily manoeuvre drawings.

 

 

 

 

AI synthetic Touhou fan-art: Youmu and Sanae standing against Tojiko, Futo, and Futo in Touhou 13 ~ Ten Desires - Tool: ChatGPT plus

 

Posted on my pixiv page: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/147796476

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4Htb42KpQzk
NicoNico: https://www.nicovideo.jp/shorts/ss46607508

Lately, I’ve been busy with my main job and have no air conditioning in my room, making it hard to focus on creative work due to my primary research duties. Today, I scanned a rough sketch and finished it using a mix of AI tools. I also made this as an example of creating free AI art with ChatGPT. 

The prompt grew iteratively. Each unsuccessful generation revealed another ambiguity, so I kept adding more precise constraints until the result came close to the composition in my mind. In that sense, the final prompt is almost an archaeological record of my negotiations with the model.

The image is not only my idealised vision of Touhou Project, but also my own philosophical allegory. The three figures above represent hereditary, ritualised authority and the power of tradition. Sanae, as a modern progressive arriving from the twenty-first century, and Youmu, imagined as a solitary and disciplined swordswoman, confront them from below. Together, the two heroines represent different aspects of the player—essentially, different aspects of myself.

The input prompts are as follows: