Touhou Game Club

[size=25]T[/h]ouhou Shinkirou ~ Hopeless Masquerade (東方心綺楼 ~ Hopeless Masquerade, lit. "Eastern Tower of Heart Fabric") is chronologically the 20th installment of Touhou series and the 4th product of the collaboration between ZUN and Twilight Frontier. The game features one-on-one aerial fighter with no ground combat.


    Humans of Gensokyo have descended into the state of hopelessness and become restless. Taking advantage of the situation, the three religious figures of Gensokyo intend to spread their own belief in order to solve the issue. Although they have the same objective, it's their conflicting faiths and methods that draw the difference.

    Personally, I don't really dig the idea of no-ground combat mainly because my gamepad is already broken as it is and it doesn't require more up-down maneuver to make things worse. However, putting personal preference aside, it's quite a refreshing touch to emphasize the much-loved Touhou's aerial danmaku battle.

    How about the popularity system? Mandatory picture inbound. Let's put aside the fact that you cannot do the flashy finisher move known as Last Word easily, that is unless you jack your opponent left-right-up-down (which is almost impossible to do), and admire how lovely of a concept it is when you draw a line connecting it and the story.

    Ahem, I really have no objection for the graphics considering I don't mind much with even meshed-potato-like kind of graphic as long as the game can keep me entertained. Not saying HM is like that as it delivers in both graphic and sounds. My favorite background music (BGM) is Futatsuiwa from Gensokyo. Surely, you can tell that it's not going to raise your testosterone level like Awakening the Chaos from Blazblue, but it's solid for Touhou and it delivers, if you catch my drift.

    Graphics don't look as good as games nowadays? Why should it be? It's Touhou, not Farcry. Fluid animations, responsive controls, and solid sound effects + BGMs are pretty much the only things you need for your dose of fighting games. Let's not be greedy or less-intellectual and appreciate the game in the way it's supposed to be.

    Let's face it, topics about religion are far from pleasant. There is no point in discussing, or even arguing over religions as people have their own perspective regarding said subject. Moving over to the game, I exaggerated nothing when I said that the three religious figures, Reimu, Byakuren, and Miko were trying to take advantage of the situation to spread their influence. Having said that, Th13.5 Hopeless Masquerade (HM) is ultimately a game telling a story about clash between religions.

    However, it didn't end up as most of religion topics would. Take a good look at all of the characters:
Main Characters

• Hakurei Reimu - The Religious Leader - represents Shinto

• Hijiri Byakuren - The Religious Leader - represents Buddhism

• Toyosatomimi no Miko - The Religious Leader - represents Tao

• Kumoi Ichirin - The Subordinate - is an apprentice of Myouren Temple

• Mononobe no Futo - The Subordinate - is a servant of Miko

    Those people are all directly associated with religions, thus earning them spots in the main plot. Are there still characters that I have yet to mention? Yes. Even though the others are not associated with any religion, they do have their own roles in the plot:
Other Characters

• Kirisame Marisa, she was only interested in garnering popularity.

• Kawashiro Nitori, she got caught by the whole mess and decided to follow the flow instead of going against it.

• Komeiji Koishi, she didn't understand anything but the fact that winning against others grant her acknowledgement from others, which led her to make the best of it.

    To lead a group, you need charisma. To have charisma, you need to be popular or well-respected by others, allies or not. What do you need to garner others' attention so you can spread your influence? Popularity. You win, you earn popularity and carry the hope of people. You lose, you become unnoticed and lose your hope. As (Futatsuiwa) Mamizou put it in her conversation with Marisa, "If you fight and win, you become toast of the town. To put it simply, you gain supporters just by punching someone in a fancy way. Are humans really like that?".

Does the whole situation ring a bell to you? Isn't it just similar to how some (radical) religious activists do their work, by proving that their belief is superior than others' with or without force? Even within faction consisted by loyalists, there may be people like Marisa, Nitori, or Koishi, that don't understand anything, yet following it under their own volition.

As the only neutral spectator, Mamizou had the clearest view of what was truly happening. She orchestrated anything necessary to guide those who were fighting so they could meet the culprit behind the incident, Hata no Kokoro, The Lost Child. Kokoro was searching for her lost Mask of Hope. She went berserk and caused the entire population to suffer nihilism, waiting for ones overflowing with hope to help her. Reimu, Byakuren, and Miko reached to her hand, and they tried to help her the way they believed in, to no avail. In this scenario, Kokoro is like a child who has no direction to follow and nobody to believe in.

Mamizou then offered an advice for Kokoro to believe more in herself, taking whatever the others have taught her so far, and not to rely on Mask of Hope to be alive. Believing it to be the way it's supposed to be, she went on to challenge everyone. In the end of her road, she once again met Reimu, accompanied with Byakuren and Miko who felt responsible for Kokoro's misbehaving. Putting their differences aside at last, they joined force to stop Kokoro's rampage - solving the incident once and for all.

During the conclusion, we're given a scene of Kokoro happily dancing in Hakurei Shrine with Reimu and a lot of visitors watching. There are also Byakuren and Miko, still bickering about who contributed to Kokoro's development more, in friendly manner. Gensokyo is once again peaceful and Kokoro is just about to begin her adventure to find and develop her identity, all thanks mainly to the combined effort of the three formerly-conflicting religious leaders.

What do we have here? It's a story about idealistic figures who are not afraid to swallow their pride when the situation demands it and an adventure of a lost child who wants to believe and hope. Those with conflicting ideals shouldn't always think that theirs is superior and the others are plain wrong, it's not a dishonor to coexist and work together with others who don't share your ideal, especially if it's for greater good, such as helping others in need.

HM is the curtain call of religions issue in Touhou, and it's done splendidly if I may add. No faction emerged victorious in the end, but they really didn't need to as they succeed in doing what they were supposed to do.

    I did say Marisa, Nitori, and Koishi were not associated directly with any religion. However, there are things worth as foods for thought, such as:

• Marisa's alignment is Tao. As shown in Wild and Horned Hermit and Ten Desires, it's clear that Marisa's interested in the concept of immortality and how to attain it. Not to count that Miko's voiced her willingness to teach Marisa the way of Tao and turn her into a shikaisen.

• In her conversation with Futo, Nitori said that she would take Shinto if she had to choose one.

• Koishi is interested to know the way of Buddhism in her post-victory quote against Byakuren.