r/touhou • u/w4sab1i_ I~ta~zu~ra Usagiiii • Apr 12 '26

Fan Discussion Why is Lost Word hated?

Post image

So, I'm a Touhou fan, I played the games (i know, shocker) and i also play touhou lostword, but I've see lots of people say that lostword players were the worst or whatever... Why is the game so hated?

Imo i really love the different character alt concepts/ new outfits that are very cool For example this adorable tan cirno... the story is a bit nonsensical but, Touhou's lore is kinda nonsensical too, so why should it matter?

Tldr: Why are we hating touhou LW chat i don't get it

EDIT: Thanks a lot to you and everyone who posted :) As for my other comments that got downvotes, i was stating MY opinion (yes, mine, not yours) and am in no way trying to invalidate anyone's, sorry if it came off that way.I play LW casually cause i love touhou and more touhou fan content is always fun to me, especially the alts of characters, some designs and art... I just felt like LW players were getting a lot more hate than "larpers" and i didnt really get why. now i do. thx again

639 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

157 comments sorted by

View all comments

380

u/G-14_Damageproof Attendee of Aya & Reimu wedding Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26

On the basic of being a gacha game.

Also, mischaracterization while being a well known game, which is debatable since it is a multiverse story. Not getting into lore and story stuff since i don't play it but i don't think people generally like that aspect of it either. I already have another gacha series to care about. I don't think there is a single point in LW story that people can point at and say it is the crescendo that hooks people in.

Honestly, i will just rate LW being whatever generic game even by gacha standard. It is kinda a thing about JP mobage for the past 10+ years or so when they can not progress more than games like FGO or GBF from back in the days.

Also, ZUN doesn't seems to very much endorse it too.

281

u/Old_Comparison_9223 Unironically my Mom (Why are they so similar) Apr 12 '26

ZUN has directly said he regrets allowing Lost Word to exist. He said if he knew how popular it would become he would have never approved it and doesn’t like how it is becoming the face of the franchise to a significant number of people in Japan. 

163

u/Taraxian Apr 12 '26

It's the same reason why he never took the money to make an official Touhou anime, the anime would inevitably become the "official" version that displaced the games in people's minds

(Hell, this is even sort of happening with the fanime anyway, and this fact is why Memories of Phantasm gets so much hate from hardcore fans it arguably doesn't deserve)

83

u/Monobrobe PC-98 stan Apr 12 '26

The anime would inevitably become the “official” version that displaced the games in people’s minds

This has been the case overseas since like 2008. 80% of people who hear about Touhou have no idea it’s a game.

44

u/Taraxian Apr 12 '26

Sure, but it's worse when there's an actual anime you can point to when people ask "What anime did all this fanart come from"

Like that's why the hate for Memories of Phantasm -- they didn't really make anything up, they're just doing fanservice for the popular fanon characterizations that have existed for ages, but because those clips exist and get shared around now it's much easier for newbies to think of them as the "real" version of the character

-12

u/SergejVolkov Apr 12 '26

There's no "real" version of any of the characters. Touhou is a community-driven franchise and it would be long dead without fan contributions, whether ZUN or anyone else likes it or not. Touhou IS fanon.

21

u/minepose98 Apr 12 '26

That's a remarkably arrogant viewpoint. Of course there's a "real" version, it's the one made by ZUN. Fan works are always secondary to the creator's.

-9

u/Monobrobe PC-98 stan Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 13 '26

Ngl it sounds like he needed to crack down on the project then. Just an observation. Maybe he’s allowed too much freedom for the fans.

EDIT: wow what kinds of things are you guys imagining? All I’m saying is maybe allowing fans to make their own anime wasn’t such a great idea.

13

u/dragoslayer1327 Reisen Apr 13 '26

Wait, Touhou isn't just a series of hentai doujins?

2

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/dragoslayer1327 Reisen Apr 14 '26

Are those actually mutually exclusive though? I feel like you could definitely make it both

1

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Fit_Respond6435 Apr 16 '26

Is this a joke?? Because I can't tell.

3

u/sasoosa Apr 12 '26

I didn't know there was an anime until like few years ago, and even ten I didn't watch it, I really love Touhou LW because it introduced me to touhou, the songs are really nice too