REVERSE IDEOLOGY Changed My Opinion on TOUHOU Music Forever 

It's so fun to see how a style can slowly evolve during a long career such as Zun's. I have a bunch of other Touhou videos btw! Check em out: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DhdopiSqotU.html&pp=gAQBiAQB

If you ever get the chance, since you seem to love the percussion in ZUN's music, I would strongly recommend 'Primordial Beat ~ Pristine Beat' aka Raiko's theme from DDC.

fun fact about this song: it sounds roughly the same when reversed (same with Koishi's theme)

MORE TOUHOU YEAHHHHHH

What I like very much about this track is that it sounds very different yet very similar without being unarmonious when reversed, which makes sense because the character's power is to reverse things.

Seija Kijin is a fascinating character. Her psychology is pretty much reversed in all aspects. She loves animosity, she hates rules, she doesn't want people to admire her, she hates being kind and receiving kindness. She's a backwards thinking creature. Very few characters in Touhou are genuinely evil or wicked, but Seija is one of the exceptions. In Double Dealing Character, she's manipulating the final boss into staging a revolution because Seija thinks it's funny to see her try and fail. In Impossible Spell Card, you play as Seija and the whole deal is she's pissed others off SO MUCH that they're by all means breaking the rules of spell cards and making them unfair, but Seija is cheating to beat them anyway. She's a true... well... a true bitch. There's not really a delicate way of phrasing it.

So, these songs that you keep looking at all have the goal of somewhat embodying the essence and story and overall vibe of the character they're looking at. For this one, Reverse Ideology is the song for a character who's entire existence is meant to be the opposite of what everyone else wants. She's happy when everyone else is sad, she feels the best when everyone hates her, and finds the most enjoyment being without friends. She's the grand architect for the problem in the games she shows up, yet is an "earlier" boss than the ultimate boss at the end, as if she reversed the order of how the bosses are meant to go, using the person she's been misleading as her scapegoat. In comparison to everyone else in the world Touhou exists in, this character should not exist. Everyone else, one way or another, wants the world to stay as it is in this golden age, but she wants everything to change, and she views herself as the hero in this story wanting to start a revolution of tools and lower peoples to rule over everyone else. Her character traits even managed to get her actually portrayed as a hero in the Chinese translations of the game.

"A Fantastical Gigant Underground Railway Network" from the latest Touhou is a song you would enjoy. It's like this one but more melancholic and orchestral.

Yeah, Double Dealing Character came out in 2013, 11 years after Touhou 6 which was the first "modern" Touhou game and 17 years since Touhou 1, so ZUN by that point was well into his songwriting career for this series.

I recommend reviewing "Faith is for the transient people" it's Stage 5 boss theme from touhou 10 mountain of faith

You should definitely do a video on kobito of the shining needle next, it's from the same game as reverse ideology (it was originally in double dealing character before impossible spell card) but possibly one of THE best touhou songs. Idolatrize World or Unlocated Hell both from Wily Beast and Weakest Creature would also be a good pick

3:32 Seija's theme is interesting, you picked up on the fact that ZUN is playing around with the "Touhou chords" but changed them so it's a bit more unsettling, especially at 5:30 with the wrong note mentioned, the theme literally flips the typical Touhou sequence. Her character has the power to "turns things upside down", which given the title of her song "reverse", she can flip the screen upside down and mirrors it to mess with the player. Great analysis as always. I wanna recommend "The Sea Where One's Home Planet Reflects" from Touhou 15, it is the final stage theme but it's oddly peaceful

Seija's unique among Touhou characters in that she's one of very few actual, honest-to-goodness villains. Her theme is manically spiteful, and as always, you nailed this and broke down EXACTLY how the music conveys this. While knowing next to nothing about the actual character! You oughtta give "Kobito of the Shining Needle - Little Princess" a listen, since it's the companion track to this one -- as the theme of Sukuna, Seija's unlikely partner in Double Dealing Character's storyline. It's quite a ride, and quite a contrast. (still vouching for "Entrusting the World to Idols" to also show up on this channel someday, too)

The guitar ZUN uses in Reverse Ideology is called Rickenbacker Amped from Electri6ity, witch he started to use around 2012 in the release of his music collection Trojan Green Asteroid. Its a Kontakt Library that I gotta say, really cool and extremely expensive XDD. Good video, just a note that most of the instruments ZUN uses are VST or from his SD-90

YES i was hoping you'd cover this!! Reverse Ideology and Nuclear Fusion showed me how interesting touhou music is i hope you can cover that one too someday

I hope you listen to not only the character songs, but also the stage theme songs. I recommend "The Frozen Eternal Capital"(th15) and "Heartfelt Fancy"(th11).

"more recent" released: 10 years ago I think you have a lot more music to get into :) personal recommendation (and you mentioned wanting a non-boss to look at too): thunderclouds of magical power

YEAAAAARR I didn't expect you would choose this track so soon, but I'm very happy you did. Reverse Ideology (aka Seija Kijin's Theme) is possibly my favourite Touhou track in the series, for a lot of reasons. To give some context, this is actually a track used in a different game first called Touhou 14 Double Dealing Character, and it's the theme of Seija Kijin, who is basically the main villain of that game. And actually considered to be the most evil character in the whole series. And one of the most dangerous. In fact, Impossible Spellcard, the game this theme is also used in, is Seija's very own game where she has to defeat every single character in the series to escape from her punishment. As you might've noticed the theme has a very back and forth nature, which plays into her ability of reversing and turning over any sort of possible state like gravity or even power. (She even flips the players controls over at some point) I think her twisted nature is perfectly captured in this track despite not sounding as maniacal at first glance, but certainly builds up to it more and more. And fun fact, the theme sounds EXTREMELY similar if you played it backwards, and I love that fact so much! ZUN really outdid himself with this one. Thanks for the video, you did an incredible job as always!

Your observation of what I'd call the rebellion against the "Touhou sequence" that you are familiar with in other pieces shows how ZUN's music theory continues to be targeted towards describing the character in the form of music itself. Anyone can observe the reversibility of the melody in connection with her power, but the fact that Seija does things for the sake of being contrary and rebellious towards the way things are as an amanojaku can be connected to that betrayal of expectations in what the chord sequence of the song becomes. Thanks for the insights!

i've got my 3 personal favourite touhou songs recommendations: Pure Furies ~ Whereabouts of the Heart from Touhou 15 Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess from Touhou 14 Entrusting this World to Idols ~ Idolatrize World from Touhou 17 In all of those examples (imo) the best way to experience them is to listen to their previous tracks as they act as kind of intro to them, so for Pure Furies: The Sea Where One's Home Planet Reflects for Little Princess: The Exaggerated Castle Keep for Idolatrize World: Electric Heritage

if you want a more recent touhou tune to listen to, "idolatrize world" the final boss theme of the last game is one i think you would really like. if you want to hear an older one "necrofantasia" is another really good one. "necrofantasia" is in my opinion one of his best.

Touhou music truly is one of kind. I suggest "Tonight Stars an Easy-going Egoist"

I think "Entrusting this World to Idols ~ Idolatrize World" from Touhou 17 is perhaps the pinnacle of Zun's modern compositions. An intense, complex, final boss theme. Similar to Undertale's "Battle Against A True Hero," it could ironically be possible that Toby Fox rubbed off a bit on Zun. Zun has played Undertale, and the two had an insightful interview together in 2018.

いつも東方の音楽解説してくれてありがとうございます！何度も聴いた曲でも、音楽理論についての解説があると更に新鮮な気持ちで聴けて楽しいです！

If you want to taste ZUN's recent music, I recommend Entrusted This World to Idols ~ Idolatrize World, what I think the best recent ost. It's from Touhou 17, from 2019 Also kinda funny because Seija is literally the opposite of everyone, have the power to reverse everything, and literally being happy for being the most different and hated character. When everyone feels being hero for saving the day, Saije feels being a hero for doing the opposite. That's why her theme seems kinda off but still like the other Touhou music

As always a great video Davi! I always seem to learn something even if it's just something small watching you. Keep up the good work!

I recommend from the fighting game spinoff Tonight Stars an Easygoing Egoist live ver. because it's a bit different other title since half of the song in the game made by other people . And yeah in the game they used the live version.

Great reaction, always fun to see a new touhou video from you

I can hear the love and emotion on your voice, its so cool to see someone that loves what he/she does!

I love hearing you talk about Touhou and Zun

I love your touhou reactions

If you like the newer songs then id listenin to probably one of the communities favorite songs from the 17th game: " Entrusting this World to Idols ~ Idolatrize World "

You're back dude! Keep making this touhou content bro really liked it

Your favorite Touhou song always be next one!

I cant wait for the next Touhou music analysis from you

Great reaction as always. I think it’s time you listen to some stage themes since all previous reactions have been boss themes.

Adoro o jeito que você explica sobre a música. Touhou é minha paixão, e fico muito feliz de ver você fazendo conteúdo sobre. Recomendo Emotional Skyscraper de Touhou 12, essa música é emocional e intensa

Touhou 14 is pretty known for its more heavier, rock-centered OST, most of the boss themes incorporate stronger guitar samples than before Reverse Ideology in particular is meant to be chaotic and dark and weird, as it's the theme of the true antagonist, Seija Kijin, whose design basis was an infamous traitor to the gods, with that being carried over to Seija herself being a rebel who puts things into reverse, literally; The theme itself even references this by being near-identical forwards AND backwards

東方シリーズの解釈がとても興味深くて楽しく視聴しています。 英語は苦手なので自動翻訳を自分なりに噛み砕きながらなので、日本語でのコメントでごめんなさい。 東方で聴いてほしい曲が２つほどありまして、リクエストさせていただきます。 １、幽霊楽団　～ Phantom Ensemble →英訳：Ghostly Band ~ Phantom Ensemble ２、偶像に世界を委ねて ～ Idoratrize World →Entrust this World to Idols ~ Idolatrize World １つ目は、古い東方曲で、３姉妹が演奏しているモチーフなのですが、出来ればキャラ絵を見ずにどういう３人か(使用楽器など)を予想して見てほしいです。 ２つ目は、どちらかというと新しい曲でファンの人気投票で期待の新星として現れた曲なので、感想を単純に聴いてみたいです。

Given this video is about how ZUN evolved his musical style later into the series, how about we see coverage of a song from the earliest Touhou game? From Highly Responsive to Prayers: Eien No Miko For other songs in the series that I personally like: Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17 from Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (the same game UN Owen Was Her is from), and Idolatrize World from the Wily Beast and the Weakest Creature (the latter is from far later into the series) Also, to correct some info said in the vid, this song doesn't originate from the spinoff game, Impossible Spell Card, it's from an earlier game Double Dealing Character.

Thank you for appeasing and pleasing us Touhou fans. Fantastic video as always!

I'm from Brazil, I love your reviews even more when there's touhou involved

CanI just say, I appreciate how you explain things in a way a layman can understand. A lot of channels that break down VG music explain it in terms that only someone already educated in music would really understand, which is kinda frustrating. So thanks for making it accessible!

Fun Fact: Koishi and Seija's themes are identical when reversed, and they're the exact opposite of each other as well. While Koishi has *no* personality due to not thinking at all, Seija has the opposite personality to whoever she's near. Putting them in the same room could create some interesting results.

I suggest Catastrophe in Bhava-arga ~ Wonderful Heaven from Touhou 10.5 Its the most successful song using Zunpet

It's really cool to see how the music in the series has evolved. Polishing and honing the music with the passing of time to create many many memorable and highly enjoyable pieces. I would like to recommend anything from Chicory A Colorful Tale. Lena Raine mixed real and sampled instruments, at times even making real instruments have a duet with SNES quality midi samples to excellent effect. If anyone in his Patreon could suggest anything from this game i can guarantee you will not regret it.

HES DOING TOUHOU AGAIN HES DOING TOUHOU AGAIN thank you very much :D

Really great that you make this music which is that of my favorite character !

"This is from a recent game, right?" Bruh, you make me feel old, the game this music comes from is almost 10 years old. Touhou 14 Double Dealing Character was released in August 2013.

The fact this song makes you thing it's live made makes it even better

Please keep on doing touhou music! ^-^ I'm just gonna copy and paste what I said last time: "I think it would be a really cool thing to read his notes on his songs. Every single game, he has a "music room" where you can view all of the music used in that game. He includes his thought process and his thoughts about the songs that he has written. I think his notes are also on the touhou wiki. Once again, great video and analysis as always!"

この曲のキャラクターは 「真実」を「嘘」と言い、 「嘘」を「真実」だと言う「捻くれ者」です そのキャラクター像を音楽に表現したMr.Zunは称賛に値する奇人であり偉人だと思います

I always enjoy your musical analysis on touhou music, you should definitely try shinmyoumaru's theme, kobito of the shining needle! One of my all time favourites

There's so many great pieces of Touhou music to pick from, expecially in the latest games. Idolatrize World, Pure Furies, Memory of Fossil Energy, so many great tracks. The Perpetual Snow of Komakusa Blossoms has to be a favourite too.

It would be very interesting to react to one of the older tracks from the 90's. I recommend: - 'Pure Land Mandala' from 'Touhou the Story of Eastern Wonderland' - 'Maple Wise' from 'Touhou Mystic Square' - 'Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly ~ Ancients' from 'Seihou Shuusou Gyoku'

Technically this was first released for Double Dealing Character in 2013. Impossible Spell Card released a year after. This track belongs to a twisted trickster constantly seeking to sow chaos wherever she walks until the present world is the exact opposite of what it once was, turning everything on its head. An endless rebel.

Nice! Haha, lowkey curious to see you check out a couple stage themes, they are pretty different from the boss themes.

Nice!! Excited to watch this one.

Does anyone else want Davi to react to music from the newest game, Touhou 19? Especially the title theme, "Intelligence of Beasts" which really shows off ZUN's development as a musician. It's also relatively unique compared to the stuff he's listened to before, about as unique as Reverse Ideology.

I love that he thought "Reverse Ideology" was from Impossible Spellcard instead of DDC

we need more touhou, I suggested you listening "The world is made in adorable ways"

I've only recently came into the Touhou community. I've been there for a while, but never actually took the step into it until just last week. I really love their music and they are much better. When I try to make music... not good. Anyways, thanks for making these videos, they have helped me get better at music making and I can't wait to get my ideas out there.

It might be a fun undertaking to take a look at each of the main menu/title screen tracks for each game. They share commonality such as a specific melody, however they are all different from game to game, particularly following the era that began with the 10th mainline game. From this point on, ZUN would use more effort to make each game's soundtrack sound distinct.

I recommend Emotional Skyscraper ~ Cosmic Mind from touhou 12, the track really shows off the ZUNpets, and it's one of my favorites in the series

What are the odds? I was watching a playthrough of Impossible Spell Card for the first time when you uploaded this. It's weird, I just got hooked on Touhou and now I'm seeing it everywhere.

My fav song and character! I love the theme song for her level too (The Shining Needle Castle Sinking in the Air). Very different but pairs really well with the boss music at the end.

PLEASE Do a video on Touhou's Wind God Girl (Full Version, Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red) one of my fav songs. Also fun fact, this song Reverse Ideology can actually be played in reverse in theme with her Character (beginning is a bit weird and distorted all over the place), and it is much more intimidating/darker as a result but still is still close to the original.

Build up and pay off. That's the secret sauce. ZUN knows we expect, we Want the Touhou Sequence. So first he avoids it, then dances around it, then at last delivers. All while building up everything around it so the impact is bigger. That's why Touhou music is so listenable, why it is so easy to make covers and adaptations of it. And I'm just waiting for the moment you cover first Flowering Night, then its cover and now part of the Touhou musical canon: Night of Nights.

コード進行についてあまり気にしたことがなかったけど、初見でプロで聞くとこういう感想になるのか。 すごいな・・・。

Please do Emotional Skyscraper next. I mean the title speaks for itself

This time was also very wonderful content. I'm looking forward to Konjuden's Pure Furies next time

you made me realize how great this song is. thanks a lot!

Oh wow, Reverse Ideology? Ur really moving all over the place with these touhou tracks😂. This theme, along with its associated character, first appeared (I think) in the main game Double Dealing Character but Impossible Spell Card is a spin-off focused on the repercussions of that story and has Seija as the main protagonist. I think its somewhat fitting you looked at this one. Imo, DDC is the point where we see a definitive shift to ZUN's 'modern' composing style (although every game is very distinct in terms of composition, instruments etc and ZUN is constantly evolving). It's where he begins incorporating those now iconic electric guitars (which are samples) in addition to a range of new instruments. Reverse Ideology itself is just such a fun, hype theme. The sporadic drums and piano arpeggios combined with the underlying chords on the low strings perfectly capture the feeling of fighting a chaotic enemy who is quite literally turning the word upside down around you. It really gives off 'this way and that' energy

If you haven't done Native Faith, Primordial Beat ~ Pristine Beat, or Necrofantasia, you might get a kick out of those.

There's a new touhou out rn, 19. The game features a bunch of arranges of older songs as well as newer ones which are bangers tbh. They've got some different feels to his usual work highly recommend

Stage 5 theme! It's more action-ish Usually (especially the older games) stage 5 bosses have more chance to become a playable character My favorite stage 5 boss theme is probably Crazy Backup Dancer, or Corpse Voyage ~ Be of Good Cheer

Very good analysis!

once again recommending "lullaby of deserted hell"

As for the presence of the "Touhou sequence" in this song and the subversion of it, subversion of nostalgia is actually the theme of the entire game where this theme first appeared -- in Double Dealing Character. This character in particular turns out to be the real mastermind behind that game's plot.

I really love the character, Seija kijin! I like everything surrounding her character so much, that my 2nd main lead in my web novel series is inspired by her! Her theme is also so pleasing to my ears, I can't even describe it.

Yeah, this is why I've made sure to bring up the game years and compositional "eras" of ZUN's arc in my previous comments. Keep in mind that this track is already ten years old, too! He hasn't stopped. (Also, per my comments on your other videos, I really hope you expand beyond late/final/extra boss themes to the broader range of songs on offer. ESPECIALLY _Theme of Eastern Story,_ the main motif of the entire series.)

if you play this or Koshi's theme backwards, they sound similar :3

Great video I hope you also review "prepetual snow of komakusa blossoms" That most peaceful song in touhou

You should listen to Idolatrize World, or Whereabouts of the Heart ! Seija is such an interesting character, and her theme is clearly one of my favourites

One of my favourite ost, and even the reverse ver is so good

I'm surprised to not see thousands of message seeing it but yeah. THe tracks is actually from another game Touhou 14 : Double Dealing Character, the boss theme of a character in particular that actually become the heroine of the Touhou 14.3 Impossible Spell Card spin off you described... Which is why the music is still there. Not that it changes much of your impression of course ! It's so nice that you see thing that we can't ! As if you cracked some kind of code which was there all along. It's super satisfying, thanks for the video.

You should listen to some of the Hifuu Club tracks in ZUN's music albums. Greenwhich in the Sky and Kid's Festival ~ Innocent Treasures are a couple of my favorites.

Yo davi! I dont play touhou, but this reminded me of the track Chaos King from Deltarune, I think you would enjoy that song too!

if you also did anime it'd be so cool to hear your take on Jin Roh's "Grace Omega", that one sends you on a journey just listening to it again after commenting and still gets me tearing up at the exact same time, lol

YESS

Sounds like a mix between jazz, orchastra, game music, and a little bit of rock sprinkled in, all genres I love, I love it

Touhou started in the 90s, but the first five games used more chiptune-ish music (The most famous theme from that era is Bad Apple... because of a remix, to the point that the remix is easier to find than the original theme lmao)

Theres a lot of songs worth checking out. Maybe some of the menu, staff and ending songs as these tend to be calmer and more ambient. Also the songs from the PC-98 era as those arevery old and on much older hardware, which gives an interesting contrast.

Could you take a listen to the Darksiders 2 soundtrack some day? And/or some other music produced by Jesper Kyd (maybe some Assassin's Creed, older Hitman games)? I'd suggest "Into Eternity" or "The Maker's Theme" as a good examples. This music has some unorthodox elements that could possibly surprise people

I have no idea where to pull this reccomendation out since it's been a while when i saw your videos about final fantasy music but i would be very curious to see your reaction on FFXIV's recent new OST for the new tier of raids called Anabaseios, the OST called "One amongst the weary" in particular

Something I'd love to see you cover is a track called "G Free ~ Final Dream" from the fangame Concealed the Conclusion. It's not official (it's remixed from several official tracks), but it's amazing and packed with meaning.

Pure Furies, The Sea Where One's Home Planet Reflects

I would love to hear your take on emotional skyscraper or beloved tomboy girl.

The guitar used there is Rickenbacker Amped from an electri6ity kontakt library actually

Touhou time, i'm glad someone is pointing out how his music has evolved