I’m often asked “hey Peter, what’s your favorite anime?” Since I’ve been an active anime fan for 35+ years (and blogging about it here at J-List for 18), this is not an easy question to answer, as I’ve seen so many. The show that first attracted me into the genre was the dramatic space opera Space Battleship Yamato, and the recent remake is so good I can’t help but recommend it highly. I’ve always felt that “Gundam is to Star Trek as Macross is to Star Wars,” and it’s been fun comparing the quasi-realistic vision of the future of humankind in space seen in Star Trek and Mobile Suit Gundam with the more playful and adventurous Macross and Star Wars worlds. I’m a card-carrying fan of time-travel stories, so naturally I love Steins;Gate, and another series that’s quite good is Zipang, about a modern Japanese warship that gets transported back to WWII. While anime is a fun medium, it’s all too common for series to not be written or structured that well, though there are always pleasant exceptions to this rule, like Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 or Toradora! As both an anime fan and a retailer, I’m concerned at the speed 1-cour (12 episode) series are forgotten by fans once they end…unless the shows make their fans cry for days, like Madoka Magica or AnoHana, which are both excellent. Finally, anime should be able to make you laugh, and I’ve enjoyed series like Yamada’s First Time and Non Non Biyori immensely.
One of the most interesting corners of Japan-related fandom is Touhou Project, a series of indies shooting games that combined outstanding visuals and music with fanciful characters to become one of the primary engines for pop culture generation in Japan. Meaning “to the East,” the games are set in Gensokyo, a magical land of witches, ice fairies, traditional Japanese youkai spirits and a few scattered humans, which was created by programmer and music composer ZUN then greatly embellished by fans. To celebrate J-List’s new status as an official Touhou shop, I asked J-List’s Facebook and Twitter readers what they liked about the Touhou universe. “Touhou is where I escape to whenever I’m not feeling well,” said one fan. “The deep stories, mysteries, relationships, gameplay, and back-stories are magical, especially when the fanbase is so large and creative.” Many fans thought the music was the main draw: “It’s all about ZUN’s music, and the billions and billions of remixes of his music.” Another responder liked the fictional world of Gensokyo because “[it’s] a place where forgotten things end up, that’s pretty cool in itself. The folk aspect of it is also pretty good.” Another reader said, “Personally I’m in awe at how much of what Touhou is was produced by fans. I’m a fan of the fandom!” Personally I love Touhou fanart, and I’ve always been amazed at how ZUN comes up with dreamy titles like “The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil” and “Phantasmagoria of Flower View.”
J-List has some great news for Touhou fans: we’re now an official shop, stocking great products direct from Shanghai Alice, ZUN’s company. We’re going to bring you some great products, from Touhou figures to keychains to mousepads. While we’ve always stocked the Touhou shooting games, we now carry the entire line of titles, including the excellent official doujin games made with ZUN’s approval, like Super Marisa World. Since music is a big part of the Touhou experience, we’ve got great official soundtracks for you to order too. And for a limited time, pick up any 4 Touhou products and get an automatic 15% discount!
