Ahaha, I was just thinking that Love Live seemed uncharacteristically fluffy for Takemiya, and sure enough, she says she hadn't been watching until the middle of season two. That she'd have that kind of start, and end up getting into it enough to write a direct yet restrained story like this... Sounds about right, somehow.
It'll also give you better context on the actual pairings. (I'd love to get into Touhou, but I suck at the franchise and don't know where to start :()
I also felt like this, interested in the stories but reluctant to dive in without seeing the source material, but having since played several of the games, I can promise you 100% that they are of no help whatsoever. It's basically like the entire Star Wars expanded universe wasn't based on a series of movies, but on the dancing minigame in Star Wars Kinect. You won't get any kind of foothold whatsoever.
Honestly, if you want a fun and easy place to begin, go find the Reimu x Marisa tag, and just start reading stuff. They're pretty much the main playable characters of the series, so they're pretty straightforward and involved with most of the cast, and if someone else seems interesting, you can go read some stuff about them, too.
The wiki is pretty good for finding more comprehensive details about characters or events, but for the most part, if you just roll with it and pick things up as you go, you'll quickly get a sense for things. There's not really any meaningful continuity or linear timelines between events, so just go for it.
last edited at Nov 24, 2014 2:34PM