Last week, someone made a thread asking about the correct order to read the Touhou print materials along with playing the games, and while trying to answer him, I realized there was no good, easy answer.
Obviously, you could read everything in the order it was published, but that means looking up a lot of dates and interleaving a lot of manga chapters that have nothing to do with each other; it's overkill. On the other hand, simply reading whole series at a time means that you'll miss crossovers, encounter spoilers, and find that characters are introduced out of order. The best way would be to figure out exactly which chapters reference others, then group things together so that you have to jump around between series as little as possible, but that takes quite a bit of work researching dates and cross-referencing events.
So, I did that work, and compiled the results into this chart, with the intent that it can be used to guide new players and answer any 'where do I start with x'-type questions. What do you think? Is it readable? Is the information correct and complete? Can it be improved in any way?
Holy cow, anon. Great job!
I think this is the final push I need to start reading them myself since I'm only acquainted with the games.
I would suggest adding a key to explain what the acronyms mean- you have some space in the bottom right corner.
This is a pretty good chart. I like the effort you went to to try and organize the Lunarian works (Cage in Lunatic Renegate, Saint Sinner, and Inaba). I've wanted to read more of the print works myself but haven't really known what direction to take, so this is helpful.
This is a great idea, actually.
A few gripes:
>Each box should be fully consumed before moving on to the next
I don't think this is correct for the games, as you can play them in any order. A better wording would be something along the lines of "It's recommended", or maybe even a separate chart with separate explanations for the games and the print works, because it's a bit cluttered to have them together.
It also seems weird that the print works are split up, wouldn't it be weird to read them in small segments, then read a different one or play a game and go back to it later? I'm aware that new chapters are being released, but whenever I read something, I like to read it in it's entirety instead of only a little at a time before moving onto something else, or not at all.
Also consider adding a tag for the spin-offs to show whether they are a fighting game/shmup. Other than that, it seems like a good flowchart for the games and possibly for the manga (I'm not quite as familiar with the print works). Sorry for being picky, but I do want this to be good.
The music CDs aren't quite so dependent on the main continuity as the in-Gensokyo works, but I wouldn't put all eight after IN. There's still references here and there, not to mention you'd be listening to tracks from Ten Desires and Lunatic Kingdom before ever touching Mountain of Faith.
>>15477353
>
It also seems weird that the print works are split up, wouldn't it be weird to read them in small segments, then read a different one or play a game and go back to it later? I'm aware that new chapters are being released, but whenever I read something, I like to read it in it's entirety instead of only a little at a time before moving onto something else, or not at all.
This is my only real concern as well. I would rather read all of a work than jumping around, I feel like it could be a bit more confusing that way.
>I would suggest adding a key to explain what the acronyms mean
Acronyms are only used after the full title has been written out in an earlier box. I thought that was clear enough, but the acronym could also be included in the first box for extra clarity.
>Also consider adding a tag for the spin-offs to show whether they are a fighting game/shmup.
The purpose of the chart is to explain what order things come in, not exactly what they are. You have to go to the wiki (or Moriya Shrine, or wherever else) to read and download this stuff anyway, and basic information like that is readily available at those places. No need to add clutter here.
>not to mention you'd be listening to tracks from Ten Desires and Lunatic Kingdom before ever touching Mountain of Faith
Whoops, I got too focused on the story and never even considered that. Good catch.
>I don't think this is correct for the games, as you can play them in any order.
You can do whatever you want, but this is meant to be the optimal order. Plenty of things in the games are referenced in other games and in the print works (in fact, some manga chapters are direct lead-ins or afterwords for the games), and most importantly, the games are where most of the characters are introduced. It's not that I expect anyone to follow this completely perfectly, but I do want the information to be perfect and complete.
>It also seems weird that the print works are split up
As I said in the OP, this was the whole inspiration to make the chart. For example, OSP began before WaHH, and has already ended. But if you read all of the former before starting the latter, Kasen would show up for one chapter with no explanation, then disappear just as abruptly. Since both were being published at the time, the crossover makes sense if you read each chapter of both series in the order they were published. However, doing that for EVERY chapter is pointless 90% of the time, and would be much more confusing. Thus, reading up to that point in OSP, then reading as far as possible in WaHH without spoilers, then finishing OSP is the best compromise. It's the minimum amount of jumping around while avoiding inconsistencies. There's a reason like that for every split in the chart. (There's actually a mistake in that example though, so it's a good thing you made me check it again.)
Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll make some revisions and post a v2 here later.
- Distributed the music CDs correctly
- Added acronyms on first appearances
- Fixed an error in WaHH continuity
- Tweaked the color of music CDs to set them apart from print stories
That should be good for now. It's made so that anyone can add to it relatively easily, but I'll try to update it once or twice a year as necessary if it looks like anyone uses it.
OP, this is really good.
I would like to note that it is perfectly fine to read SSiB in its entirety and then CiLR in its entirety. CiLR is largely meant to detail the explanations and motivations behind individual character actions and certain events that aren't fully explained in SSiB by using character POVs, as a retrospective for the reader. SSiB can seem lacking when read by itself and CiLR is highly recommended to read with it, but SSiB still works fine on its own if you read them back-to-back. In fact I could probably argue that it should be read this way given enough time, but the point is that either probably works here.
Inaba, however, should be read last, and CiLR obviously shouldn't be read first.
Good job with the interleaving of FS and WaHH for the relevant chapters. Even the recent chapters of FS should all be fine as long as you understand ULiL.
>>15477286
This is autism.
>>15479572
Not really? But if the only way you know how to appease your own insecurities is by trying to put down others then go ahead.
>>15478630
This is pretty great; my 2hu knowledge was a fucking mess and I've been planning to replay all the games/reread all the print works and I've wanted an orderly way to do it.
Good shit, man.
>>15478630
Shouldn't the Maribel/Renko stories not part of the timeline? Their setting is pretty vague, but it's surely far future. Events that happen in Touhou parallels our current year
>>15480579
True, but this isn't a timeline of in-universe events; the wiki has that covered. The CD stories are intended to be read alongside everything else even though that's not when they take place.
Merry's introduction depends on knowing who Yukari is. PMiSS depends on knowing who Merry and Renko are. Magical Astronomy depends on knowing about the existence of the Lunar Capital. The rest of the placements are based on what games the tracks are from.
Nice chart OP. I would appreciate a little bit clearer colors, even though you already changed them a bit here >>15478630 for the better.
Thanks for the effort.
Touhou is so fucking gay nobody actually likes this retarded shit unironically outside of using the reaction images right
>>15477286
You should but a warning saying Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth shouldn't be taken seriously since the writer behind it isn't ZUN.
Kinda the same applies for Seasonal Dream Vision where only the intro is written by ZUN.
>>15483944
of course they unironically like it. It's that brand of unstopable-superovergoddess-i'msoboredlol-gothiclolita shit that makes bad shit like Umineko and Kill la Kill somehow even worse shit.
Except the unstopable-superovergoddess-i'msoboredlol-gothiclolita in Touhou case isn't actual unstopable, bored, or gothic. They act more like Council House And Violent, and the worst offenders of the trope tripe lose to you, the player, and they don't all smug at you as if they weren't trying.
>>15484055
Not OP, but even though Inaba is more of a comedy I've always considered it just as much of the Bougetsushou saga as CiLR and SSiB. I definitely don't think it's as dubious as some other people.
