When I first read Sumireko's "What a wonderful death!" line in ULIL, it legitimately gave me chills, because just for a moment, we got a peek behind Touhou's eternal status quo, beyond the chaotic everyday that Reimu tries to protect in the land of illusions and fantasy. This series of vignettes really drives in the flow of time in the outside world, where everything rushes forward so quickly, and yet we're made to wonder if life in Gensokyo is really better. Everyone compares Sumireko to an isekai protagonist, but to me, she always felt like a character from one of those fantasy children's novels in the 20th century, like The Chronicles of Narnia. Underneath the escapism, there's always this vested anxiety, regardless of whether she lingers on for too long or chooses to return. I really liked the way that this story explored that future.
