Beginning with human deriving from myths, Inheritances, ancient texts, etc., there are various species like fairies, phantoms and gods.
They are uniformly drawn as girls (children), and it is officially emphasized that all Touhou characters are children. (That’s why it is the Gensokyo (Land of Fantasy). See details in the later mentioned）.
Characters (After Windows version)
| Protagonists |
|---|
| Reimu Hakurei Marisa Kirisame |
| the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil |
|---|
| Rumia Daiyousei Cirno Hong Meiling Koakuma Patchouli Knowledge Sakuya Izayoi Remilia Scarlet Flandre Scarlet |
| Perfect Cherry Blossom |
|---|
| Letty Whiterock Chen Alice Margatroid Lily White Lunasa Prismriver Merlin Prismriver Lyrica Prismriver Youmu Konpaku Yuyuko Saigyouji Ran Yakumo Yukari Yakumo |
| Imperishable Night |
|---|
| Wriggle Nightbug Mystia Lorelei Keine Kamishirasawa Tewi Inaba Reisen Udongein Inaba Eirin Yagokoro Kaguya Houraisan Fujiwara no Mokou |
| Phantasmagoria of Flower View |
|---|
| Aya Shameimaru Medicine Melancholy Yuuka Kazami Komachi Onozuka Eiki Shiki, Yamaxanadu |
| Mountain of Faith |
|---|
| Shizuha Aki Minoriko Aki Hina Kagiyama Nitori Kawashiro Momiji Inubashiri Sanae Kochiya Kanako Yasaka Suwako Moriya |
| Subterranean Animism |
|---|
| Kisume Yamame Kurodani Parsee Mizuhashi Yuugi Hoshiguma Satori Komeiji Rin Kaenbyou Utsuho Reiuji Koishi Komeji |
| Undefined Fantastic Object |
|---|
| Nazrin Kogasa Tatara Ichirin Kumoi Unzan Minamitsu Murasa Shou Toramaru Byakuren Hijiri Nue Houjuu |
| Ten Desires |
|---|
| Kyouko Kasodani Yoshika Miyako Seiga Kaku (Seiga Nyan Nyan) Soga no Tojiko Mononobe no Futo Toyosatomimi no Miko Mamizou Futatsuiwa |
| Double Dealing Character |
|---|
| Wakasagihime Sekibanki Kagerou Imaizumi Benben Tsukumo Yatsuhashi Tsukumo Seija Kijin Shinmyoumaru Sukuna Raiko Horikawa |
| Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom |
|---|
| Seiran Ringo Doremy Sweet Sagume Kishin Clownpiece Junko Hecatia Lapislazuli |
Books
| [[Perfect Memento in Strict Sense | The Grimoire of Marisa Symposium of Post-mysticism |
|---|---|
| Hieda no Akyuu |
Others
| Characters Existing Only in Settings or Unused Characters |
|---|
| Rin Satsuki Leira Prismriver Youki Konpaku Lily Black Myouren Hijiri Kirisame's father Previous Generation Miko Fairies of Rainy Season Chang'e |
Characters (PC-98 Version)
| Protagonists |
|---|
| Reimu Hakurei Marisa Kirisame (Stage 4 boss in the Story of Eastern Wonderland, later to be the protagonist) |
| Highly Responsive to Prayers |
|---|
| ShinGyoku (ShinGyoku) YuugenMagan (YuugenMagan) Elis (Elis) Sariel (Sariel) Mima (Mima) Kikuri (Kikuri) konngara (konngara) |
| Story of Eastern Wonderland |
|---|
| Genjii Rika Meira Mima |
| Stage 2 Midboss Stage 3 Midboss Stage 3 Boss Stage 4 Midboss |
| Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream |
|---|
| Ellen Kotohime Kana Anaberal Rikako Asakura Chiyuri Kitashirakawa Yumemi Okazaki |
| Ru~koto Mimichan Ma○chi |
>Well, the author has a preferences for girls
(From the Magic of Life’s appendix zun002.TXT)
>（※When talking about the topic of Sakuya Izayoi）
>Others Well, I have a question. What is the size of the breasts?
>ZUN I don't feel like I saw it. They are all children
>ZUN She is a character who is in her 10s
(From the last-minute special of NAE-RADI DNA C72)
>The reason why people will grow old in Sazae-san dimension is unknown
(From ZUN’s twitter)
>The non-human creatures abandon their growth in exchange for long lives.
>In contrast, they can live forever because they won’t grow up.
(From the Character’s introduction of Imperishable Night)
>Ｑ．Are there significant intentions that only girl Characters have appeared in Gensokyo?
>Ａ．Yes, there are.
> When fighting seriously, it is impossible for girls to fight one-on-one. (especially in series stories)
> So, it’s a game of the girls. If you look at it as a play, it will be unnatural to…
> to have characters of all ages and genders evenly. Therefore, it’s hard to have characters other than girls, now and forever.
(From ZUN’s answer in Gensou Bulletin Board)
>Ｑ．The most shocking thing is that since the appearance of Genjii in Curiosities of Lotus Asia, men characters started to appear naturally
>Ａ． It’s very unnatural that there are no men and adults, when you want to depict daily lives instead of battles.
(From ZUN’s answer in Gensou Bulletin Board)
>ZUNThe characters that appear in Touhou are mostly children.
>In their mind, they have a kind of･･････simple thought. So the place becomes Gensokyo.
(From the 7th Nikenme Radio)
The Image of children and fairy tales of Team Shanghai Alice
Touhou Project series is produced by Team Shanghai Alice (a circle ran by ZUN individually), and from ZUN’s idea the word Alice indicates
- the children who live in the leased territory
- and the image of fairy tales.(From the 5th page of Meji University’s talk show of the dawn of Touhou)
According to clinical psychology, the word Alice is considered as an eternal girl, the symbol of girls’ ego . In addition, according to the professor of English literature, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is originally a fairy tale written for children.
Summaries and Digressions
To sum up, we should remember that ZUN’s words that all Touhou characters are children. At the same time, however, the children in Touhou Project series are in a transformed form.
>Yokai is in a young girl appearance (…omission…) and transforms into a human form, an extermination might be a must.
(From the 37th page of Touhou Gumon Shiki’s Wriggle Nightbug in 2006)
>Like many Gods, they usually disguise themselves as humans. However, due to the characteristics of God, their appearances and forms are meaningless.
(From the 22nd Touhou Gumon Kuju’s Suwako Moriya in 2012)
It is not certain whether the characters in Touhou Project actually have the substance or age. In recent years, in contrast with their appearances, characters with experiences that don’t seem to belong to children, such as Seiga Kaku and Junko, start to appear in the original work.
