J-List has been an official Touhou Project shop for many years, approved by Zun and his company Shanghai Alice to sell awesome official Touhou games, soundtracks and original music CDs, and figures to customers all over the world. Since we’re having an End-of-Fiscal-Year sale this month, we’ll be discounting many of our Touhou doujin music CDs so we can move them out before our fiscal year here in Japan ends. This means that you can pick up some great Touhou CDs and save money!
Please note that none of these products can be restocked once we sell out. So if you find something you want to add to your collection, grab it quickly!
What is Touhou Project?
In case you’re not already a fan of the legendary series of shooting games for Windows, Touhou Project is a series of fun shooting games in the “bullet curtain” (danmaku in Japanese) genre. The games are fun to play, but that’s just part of why Touhou has become a popular subculture all over the world. The music is equally compelling, and there’s a huge “doujin music” world that has sprung up, with talented amateur and semi-pro artists making music to go along with the Touhou world and its characters.
In this post, we’ll pick up 12 of our favorite Touhou and other doujin music CDs and introduce them to you, with the Youtube sample video links so you can listen to the tracks.
Let’s start at the beginning: the official game soundtracks featuring Zun’s music. This is Ghostly Field Club, the 2nd music collection of official game music released created by Zum himself. Enjoy a sample track from this CD, below!
Another important part of the world Touhou music CDs are vocal collections by talented amateur bands, who sometimes get so good, they go pro. (This is what happened to the famous I’ve Sound, who started out making doujin music, and now they make professional BGM and songs for major anime series.) This is a collection of tracks by SYNC.ARTS. Enjoy the samples below.
Another vocal collection we can’t stop listening, this is an amazing collection of tracks by the talented group R-Note. The samples are below!
One thing I love is Touhou music that gets really experimental, giving you such beautiful music you can’t stop listening. Here is a collection of piano music by TAMUSIC.
Touhou dance music that’s good enough to be played at the hippest club? That’s awesome. Listen to the Touhou Dance Anthem sample tracks below.
Back to Zun’s actual music, from the 6th music collection he released, Trojan Green Asteroid. Eerie and beautiful, as expected.
In addition to official Touhou games, there is a huge world of doujin Touhou titles made by other creators. One popular one is Super Marisa Land, a Super Mario Land blending with Touhou characters. The sample music is below.
What would Touhou music be without Initial D-esque music suitable for driving to? Listen to the sample tracks below, and pick up Genso Sky Drift before it sells out forever.
One of the coolest remixes of Touhou doujin music is classic, and the superbly talented amateur music group Tokyo Active NEETs makes the best stuff out there, including the Touhou Philharmonic Orchestra. Listen to tracks below and pick up the CD before it sells out.
You know what’s awesome? Touhou’s amazing tracks remixed as “Violin Rock.” That’s what you get from talented doujin group KORI.
Another offering from Tokyo Active NEETs, this gives a jazz twist to Touhou’s famous tunes, which is elegant and cool to listen to. Grab a copy before they’re gone!
Finally, the world of doujin music includes non-Touhou offerings, too, including KanColle, Fate, and more. Here’s a wonderful jazz creation based on Fate;Grand Order if you want to own it.