Sorry if this has been asked before, I didn't particularly want to scroll through the pages of forum topics to find out.

I don't really like bullet hell games so I was trying to avoid having to play the games. But the doujins look really good.

So is there a lot of back story that you get from the games or are the doujins just based off the character's appearances and names?

Basically, will I be able to enjoy the doujins without playing Touhou?

Hardly any knowledge of the games is necessary. It might help to read the stuff in the Canon tag to get a feel for who's who, especially Silent Sinner In Blue, but generally you can figure it all out just from reading and taking the occasional look at the appropriate wikis (optional).

Far as I can tell, there's not really all that much story in the games anyhow.

Thanks :)

I've been avoiding them because I thought I'd be missing something crucial.

Btw, what is 'canon'?

last edited at Apr 30, 2014 5:24PM

Canon is material from the source (author, studio, etc) rather than fan made material.

Ah, thanks!
I've learnt about 5 new words from these forums (including abbreviations).

Don't worry, most Touhou fans haven't played the games either

Canon is material from the source (author, studio, etc) rather than fan made material.

Not necessarily, canon is stuff accepted as part of the official storyline. Look at, say, Gundam Wing. It was made by the same company, but it wasn't part of the UC canon. Similarly, I believe Star Trek V and the infamous Star Wars Xmas Special were both considered non-canon because they sucked. Although that's not very common so most of the time, canon = official is close enough.

Canon is material from the source (author, studio, etc) rather than fan made material.

Not necessarily, canon is stuff accepted as part of the official storyline. Look at, say, Gundam Wing. It was made by the same company, but it wasn't part of the UC canon. Similarly, I believe Star Trek V and the infamous Star Wars Xmas Special were both considered non-canon because they sucked. Although that's not very common so most of the time, canon = official is close enough.

Pretty much, although sometimes there may be non-canon material even within' the canon stuff
The Zeta Gundam movie trilogy changed the ending from the TV serie around, which would mess with a bunch of stuff from the UC timeline, but the timeline uses the TV ending so the movie is basically filler

Canon is material from the source (author, studio, etc) rather than fan made material.

Not necessarily, canon is stuff accepted as part of the official storyline. Look at, say, Gundam Wing. It was made by the same company, but it wasn't part of the UC canon. Similarly, I believe Star Trek V and the infamous Star Wars Xmas Special were both considered non-canon because they sucked. Although that's not very common so most of the time, canon = official is close enough.

Pretty much, although sometimes there may be non-canon material even within' the canon stuff
The Zeta Gundam movie trilogy changed the ending from the TV serie around, which would mess with a bunch of stuff from the UC timeline, but the timeline uses the TV ending so the movie is basically filler

I'm trying to think of examples of stuff done by third parties that were later incorporated into canon, but I'm coming up dry. Pretty certain it's happened though.

Canon is material from the source (author, studio, etc) rather than fan made material.

Not necessarily, canon is stuff accepted as part of the official storyline. Look at, say, Gundam Wing. It was made by the same company, but it wasn't part of the UC canon. Similarly, I believe Star Trek V and the infamous Star Wars Xmas Special were both considered non-canon because they sucked. Although that's not very common so most of the time, canon = official is close enough.

Pretty much, although sometimes there may be non-canon material even within' the canon stuff
The Zeta Gundam movie trilogy changed the ending from the TV serie around, which would mess with a bunch of stuff from the UC timeline, but the timeline uses the TV ending so the movie is basically filler

I'm trying to think of examples of stuff done by third parties that were later incorporated into canon, but I'm coming up dry. Pretty certain it's happened though.

Hmm, don't know about being incorporated later, but there's stuff like Soul Eater Not running around

Although I'm still an unfortunate 'secondary' myself, I really feel like fans shouldn't be so proud about it. The truth is that the franchise wouldn't be so popular in the first place if the games didn't have some quality, so however much one might enjoy the derivative works which have sprung up because of them, you should definitely still at least acknowledge the source.

Ultimately, I think that cordoning oneself off from certain parts of the fandom also might unnecessarily restrict one's enjoyment. For example, if you strictly stick to the manga and doujin side of the Touhou fandom, you'll never get to take in Touhou's music scene, which is another incredible part of the series' community. And the thing is, all of this great stuff -- Touhou's setting, characters, music, story -- ultimately comes back down to the games.

I really enjoy Touhou's setting/concepts so I've basically devoured all of the official manga and print works (Touhou wiki's official literature page is a great resource). Because of this I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of the 'canon' of the franchise, and this has helped me appreciate/connect with a lot of the more heavy/obtuse fan works out there. However, no matter how many of these supplementary materials I have read, I don't feel like I will have truly experienced and understood the franchise until I have played the games. In truth, if all I've experienced are the secondary materials, I can't remotely begin to compare my knowledge or experience with those fans who have played the games. In the end it's not inaccurate to say that people can enjoy Touhou without having to experience the source material, but really I think that the quality/*depth* of that enjoyment will be different. The thing is just that I definitely think there is a lot to enjoy about the Touhou games themselves or other areas of the fandom as well, so while there's no need to jump into them immediately, fans should keep an open mind toward them for the prospect of expanding their love for Touhou in the future.

Canon is material from the source (author, studio, etc) rather than fan made material.

Not necessarily, canon is stuff accepted as part of the official storyline. Look at, say, Gundam Wing. It was made by the same company, but it wasn't part of the UC canon. Similarly, I believe Star Trek V and the infamous Star Wars Xmas Special were both considered non-canon because they sucked. Although that's not very common so most of the time, canon = official is close enough.

Well.....I was just trying to give the barebones description. ;p

I acknowledge the source just fine, but since I suck at bullet hell shooters and none of the playthroughs will show the endings I'll always be missing important parts of the source so why waste my time? It's a guarantee I'd spend more time being frustrated than actually enjoying the story. Better to read what's available and actually have a good time.

I've played a few on my phone... and I'm terrible at it.