I am no fan of the Kantai Collection and I fear this conflict could be the death of my favorite fandom of all time.
Also although it's my statement is silly it's entirely true that this past year Touhou fan works are almost half of last years and judging by the great reception and multiple entries (Hopeless Masquerade and Double Dealing Character) it's not a loss of love for Gensokyo, but instead a concentration on some other setting. I'm certain it's mainly Kantai Collection.
I am no fan of the Kantai Collection and I fear this conflict could be the death of my favorite fandom of all time.
Also although it's my statement is silly it's entirely true that this past year Touhou fan works are almost half of last years and judging by the great reception and multiple entries (Hopeless Masquerade and Double Dealing Character) it's not a loss of love for Gensokyo, but instead a concentration on some other setting. I'm certain it's mainly Kantai Collection.
Also no aggression intended.
I'm certain Kantai Collection is just a fad that will fade over time (I'm no fan of it either, simply because card games hold no interest for me). As far as art is concerned, I'm much more interested in the variety of characters/settings/styles Touhou makes available. KC has never had an appeal to me because of a limited number of characters, costumes, and settings. It feels like I'm just looking at the same thing by a different artist most of the time. Only time will tell, but I don't see enough creative freedom for KC to remain popular in fanart for as long as Touhou.
It's not a contest. They're different fandoms. Touhou is its own creature made of many elements like youkai&folklore/magic/east-meets-west, and has created its own unique culture, and KanColle is essentially battleship otaku culture.
There are TONS of battleship otaku, and not only in Japan. DMM have basically tapped into the entire WWII model kit fanbase.
Touhou isn't suffering. It's just lost a lot of focus because fanartists who'll draw anything that's popular have had their opportunistic gaze nabbed by a new potential market. The people who love Touhou still draw Touhou. And many, many, many people still love Touhou no less than they did before KanColle. They just love KanColle too. <3
It's not a contest. They're different fandoms. Touhou is its own creature made of many elements like youkai&folklore/magic/east-meets-west, and has created its own unique culture, and KanColle is essentially battleship otaku culture.
You are making a huge mistake when you're assuming that Touhou fans and KanColle fans like their respective franchise because of their respective inspirations.
Touhou fans = mythology fans? I hardly think so, if you think otherwise, I would ask you if you are a Touhou fan, can you tell me a single myth story that features Amaterasu(the goddess, not the dog, the jutsu, the Persona, or the Master Unit) as the center character? Amaterasu is definitely one of the most popular Shinto name to appear in modern media so if you don't know, it should be more than enough proof that you don't need to enjoy mythology to like Touhou and vice versa.
Exact same can be said for KanColle and to an extension, Fate series. Can you name notable feats done by 10 different WW2 ships or know that King Arthur killed many babies out of paranoia to preserve his own crown in la Morte d'Artur? Chances are you don't and neither does 90% of the fans of all these series.
Touhou and KanColle's success and popularity are not derived from their character inspirations, their gameplays, and definitely not their plots, but from the usage of their characters. That alone is the deciding factor that leads both franchises to leap lightyears ahead in popularity in comparison to other games in their same respective genre.
I've written a more in-depth analysis on this once in another post here: post #1584320 But note that even that analysis is still shortened due the fact that I'm writing it on a comment section of a website, many details are incomplete and I could've written an entire essay out of it if neccessary.
It's hard to sum up Touhou with a few words because it is inspired by half a hundred motifs, so I gave a few of the major ones. Oh, and yes, there are sure to be a great many fans that like Touhou for reasons unrelated to any of the major or minor influences.
However, you seem to be under the impression folklore and mythology mean the same thing, O Scholar. Simply put, mythology in Japan pertains to deities, legends involving the workings of nature, etc. while folklore pertains to accounts and poems of encounters with youkai and cryptids that circulate among the general population. Indeed, Touhou has very little to do with mythology, except for a few land gods struggling to win followers. Gensokyo is more heavily influenced by powerful youkai and magicians. You went off on a tangent completely, due to your misunderstanding, and your assumption that I was in any way equating mythology fans in general.
Also, you do realize almost every aspect of KanColle characters' physique, equipment, and dialogues are based off of the actual ships they represent, right? The rest is owed to excellent design sense.
I know the difference between folklore and mythology, but what you're claiming here is like saying if you like butter then you can't like cheese. Technically they may be different things stemming from the same origin, but people who enjoy these things often enjoy the other one too because of this close resemblance. That's why I am categorizing mythology, folklore, fairy tale, classical epics, plays adhering to mythological origins and cryptozoology into a single category.
But if you insist that they must be different then fine, how about you tell me what a Jorogumo is then? How about Nurikabe? Bake-kujira? Mokumokuren? And if you know, do you think the rest of Touhou's gargantuan fanbase knows? And I'm saying count both those from the west and the east, because you're presuming that everyone who likes Touhou must be a youkai nerd. Again, 90% of them still don't, and will never even bother to look any of these names up on Google.
If you still insist otherwise, I can still point to several Touhou characters like Shikieiki who still has an origin that is strictly mythological, so checkmate there nevertheless.
And similarly I would ask, I know the cannons stuck to the KanColle characters as well as some of their many other elements are based from the real ships, but again ask anyone you know who like KanColle, do THEY CARE? Figure out how many people like KanColle's canon designs VS how many KanColle fans who just like fapping to Shimakaze or Atago. If the canons are not attached to girls, even if you decide to turn the ships into mechas or armored animals instead, KanColle would be a miserable market failure.
If canon design suffice as a reason why all KanColle fans must be battleship nerds, then all Pokemon fans must also be zoology AND youkai nerds, and all Yugioh fans must be Egyptology nerds. I hope you see the error in your own attempt on media psychoanalysis.
Calm down. Pardon while I remove your spider thread from my leg, and attach it to the log next to me: all I meant was that battleship otaku culture is the overwhelming premise of KanColle, though anyone can see that the final audience ended up with far more than just battleship otaku.
I never said anything absolute about Touhou, period. Yet the Touhou part is 99% what you're latching on to, and wrongly.
torinoko said:
Touhou is its own creature made of many elements like youkai&folklore/magic/east-meets-west, and has created its own unique culture
Also, of course a pleasing design is going to win over new fans purely of its own accord. That is what design is meant to do, catch the eye. So many of ZUN's designs have accomplished that just as well as the KanColle favorites, dubious though his drawing style may be. His design is what pulls the fans in. Design is what pulls fans in, in general.
Far be it from me whether Kancolle fans even play the game, let alone develop an interest in the many hidden mechanics jokes like Kaga's voluptuous figure representing her 3 flight decks. The lesser majority will probably never bother to do either, and remain content with their top bishoujo picks. Let them.
You're finding a point of argument where one never existed.
Btw, Morte d'Arthur (along with The Once and Future King) is among my all-time favorite novels.