Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2010

Courtesy of the Touhou Project

Ask guys in Akihabara what they’re into and you’ll come up with the name Touhou, a series of side-scrolling shooting games famous for its cute characters and soundtracks. Ask girls in Ikebukuro and you’ll hear Hetalia, a webcomic turned media franchise that’s populated by beautiful boy characters. The common thread is that these works were created by fans and grew in popularity online.

The Touhou Project is the name of a series of works by ZUN, a one-man team who does all his own graphics, music and programming. The 33-year-old Nagano native originally wanted to compose music for fighting games, but eventually realized that making his own games would provide a better outlet. He decided to practice programming with a group called Amusement Makers, which resulted in the first Touhou game, Highly Responsive to Prayers, released in 1996. The series developed into a shooter of the danmaku (“bullet hell”) variety. The player controls their character—a cute girl with mystical powers—who must avoid a near constant onslaught of enemy volleys.

ZUN’s fan base grew in 2002, when he went solo and released the sixth Touhou game, Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. The first in the series to appear on Windows, it had greatly superior graphics and Midi music, which showcased ZUN’s skills as a composer. He was tolerant of fan works, and even encouraged them provided they were not for unauthorized commercial distribution. Derivative works included dojinshi, music, movie clips, anime, games and character goods.

Courtesy of Hidekaz Himaruya

More than just games, Touhou (top right) has developed into an internet meme among otaku. A few years ago, an amateur music group called IOSYS released a Flash animation to promote a remix of one of the character’s theme songs, “Marisa Stole the Precious Thing.” At the time, many dating simulation games were posting promotional Flash videos that featured similarly cute characters, and Touhou benefitted from (albeit mistaken) association. The music and videos were remixed over and over again on the popular Nico Nico Douga video-sharing site, and the meme grew along with the site itself. Cute character designs, a large library of music, and momentum among fans have propelled Touhou to success.

“I was first hooked on the Flash animations,” says Tomoaki Hirai, a 21-year-old university student. “What really keeps me a fan of Touhou, though, is the distinct moe sensibility that the game and culture has. I play other games too, but I’ll always come back to play Touhou’s Phantasmagoria of Flower View because it has my favorite character, Yuka.”

And moe spells success among female fans, too. Hetalia: Axis Powers (above right) is a webcomic by Hidekaz Himaruya that features 40 nations anthropomorphized as beautiful boys. Historical, cultural and political matters are reinterpreted as relationships and romance between them. The series began in 2003, and fans quickly started writing their own stories featuring favorite countries, publishing them in both digital and print formats. The fandom grew online, and in 2008, publishing company Gentosha released two volumes of manga; four audio CDs also followed. Throughout it all, fans were granted creative liberty, which helped spread interest.

In 2009, Studio Deen produced an anime version of Hetalia that was streamed online. The decision to broadcast on the web as opposed to a traditional TV outlet may have been to avoid criticism of the national stereotypes being portrayed—South Korea did, in fact, protest the show. However, the effect was to keep the series online and on the minds of fans. A highly anticipated animated feature film is scheduled for release this year.

Even as criticism mounts about the supposed lack of creativity in the Japanese contents industry, it seems that creative fans are happy to generate their own.