Touhou apparently takes place in real time as far as years go.
Since Sanae was a high schooler if she came to Gensokyo at say 17 years old that makes her 27 right now. If Reimu and Marisa at least 15 during EoSD that makes them about 30 right now.
Touhou apparently takes place in real time as far as years go.
Since Sanae was a high schooler if she came to Gensokyo at say 17 years old that makes her 27 right now. If Reimu and Marisa at least 15 during EoSD that makes them about 30 right now.
Our protagonists are starting to get up there.
Touhous don't age unless they have to, everyone knows that.
For real though, if Touhou took place in real time, Reimu's running out of time to produce an heir to keep Gensokyo alive, so that just invites all sorts of plot holes.
Touhous don't age unless they have to, everyone knows that.
For real though, if Touhou took place in real time, Reimu's running out of time to produce an heir to keep Gensokyo alive, so that just invites all sorts of plot holes.
Weird thing is that Akyuu seems to be aging normally.
Weird thing is that Akyuu seems to be aging normally.
She really doesn't. In fact, is there ANY one character that does?
You can't make out anything from the main games because everyone's a titless loli, whilst in the fighting games everyone's got a high school figure. The printworks are drawn in different styles so you can't really rely on them either.
But that aside, humans don't ever mention their age or the passing of time do they? Yukarin must be messing around again.
She really doesn't. In fact, is there ANY one character that does?
You can't make out anything from the games, and the printworks are drawn in different styles so you can't really rely on them either.
The thing is, Reimu, Marisa, Akyuu, and Kosuzu are always drawn to look like they're around Sumireko's age, and Sumireko does appear in multiple print works, so that much is at the very least consistent. There are adult women in Touhou print works, and they don't look like those four. Sanae and Sakuya actually look noticeably older than the others, but their appearance hasn't changed either in a long time.
But that aside, humans don't ever mention their age or the passing of time do they? Yukarin must be messing around again.
We do see the passing of time, though, since Reimu holds several festivals that can only be held once a year (plus others), although I think we've only gone through two Setsubuns and one Tanabata officially.
Has ZUN recently ever been asked about the characters ages? Touhou seems to be the same as Pokemon in that time passes, but the characters don't age anymore. People should press him for an answer so we can confirm or dismiss those ridiculous rumors that the human girls are in their 30s while looking like teens. Hoobajoob got the right idea of how things are in touhou, no one ages since it would mess with the story.
But that aside, humans don't ever mention their age or the passing of time do they? Yukarin must be messing around again.
In FS (have to look for the exact chapter) Akyuu said she's getting older and has probably less than 10 years left. And since it's stated she won't live more than 30 years, it means she's 20 or around there in that chapter (she was born in 1994 and the chapter is 2015, so she'd be 21 at that time, so it means time passes normally).
In FS (have to look for the exact chapter) Akyuu said she's getting older and has probably less than 10 years left. And since it's stated she won't live more than 30 years, it means she's 20 or around there in that chapter (she was born in 1994 and the chapter is 2015, so she'd be 21 at that time, so it means time passes normally).
Edit: was chapter 26.
How do we know she was born in 1994? I saw it on the wiki but it's unsourced.
Has ZUN recently ever been asked about the characters ages? Touhou seems to be the same as Pokemon in that time passes, but the characters don't age anymore. People should press him for an answer so we can confirm or dismiss those ridiculous rumors that the human girls are in their 30s while looking like teens. Hoobajoob got the right idea of how things are in touhou, no one ages since it would mess with the story.
He said in some interview (I don't remember which) that Reimu's about old enough to be in high school and has left it at that. In another interview he said "If I say how old she is, she’ll have to keep getting older. Suffice it to say they’re getting older. Besides, if she gets too old, I’m afraid some day she’d get too old to play danmaku."
In FS (have to look for the exact chapter) Akyuu said she's getting older and has probably less than 10 years left. And since it's stated she won't live more than 30 years, it means she's 20 or around there in that chapter (she was born in 1994 and the chapter is 2015, so she'd be 21 at that time, so it means time passes normally).
That's assuming that touhou indeed follows realtime. If that's the case than the characters SHOULD age visibly, which they apparently don't. There is also the matter of how Renko and Maribel fit into all of this.
Supposedly they're from the near future, but they have, through maribel's ability visited what we can assume is present day Gensokyo. This could mean wibbly wobbly timey wimey or actual full-on timetravel shenanigans. I wouldn't put it past Merry as Yukari's stage in Hisotensoku has her gapping the shrine between day and night.
Regardless, it's Yukari's doing, she's fucking the timeline and it'll probably be decades before we know why. If something's truly off about the passing of time then Sanae's gonna notice eventually.
That's assuming that touhou indeed follows realtime.
It has in all instances that a date has been mentioned. For instance the dates on Aya and Hatate's newspaper articles collected in both of Akyuu's works events correspond with the games release year. We'll have to wait for the next Akyuu book to confirm the real date is still an on going trend so we'll probably know next year.
KillRoB-XV said:
Supposedly they're from the near future, but they have, through maribel's ability visited what we can assume is present day Gensokyo. This could mean wibbly wobbly timey wimey or actual full-on timetravel shenanigans.
If Reimu dies without a shrine maiden to take over the barrier goes down. When that happens Gensenkyo is exposed to the outside world's active disbelief.
The barrier should be fine, the Youkai just pick a new Miko, when Reimu was held hostage by the Lunarians for weeks Aya assumed she was dead and non-nonchalantly thought about when they'd pick a new Miko. It's the god who controls and maintains the barrier, not the Miko, she is just the gods agent.
If Reimu dies without a shrine maiden to take over the barrier goes down. When that happens Gensenkyo is exposed to the outside world's active disbelief. Not surprising Yukari would mess with her aging to prevent her death without an heir.
This was actually never stated, it's just a fandom urban legend solely based on the fact that Reimu has power over the barrier, which Yukari and even Kasen (per ULiL) have as well. Reimu herself refered to Yukari as the creator of the barrier.
KillRoB-XV said:
That's assuming that touhou indeed follows realtime. If that's the case than the characters SHOULD age visibly, which they apparently don't. There is also the matter of how Renko and Maribel fit into all of this.
There are real time references scattered around. After the boom of ebola Kosuzu had a magazine about it, after Trump election Aya used outside world sources for a fake article in AFiEU, changing just enough to fit with Gensokyo's theme. Plus all the dates used in the material we are given. And again, Akyuu flat out says she is aging.
Not sure how Mary or Yukari have anything to do with how time passes for the other humans.
If i had to say a canon reason, then maybe humans that deal with magic and supernatural powers age slowly. Sanae is part goddess so it might be that, Sakuya has time magic, Reimu was similarly born superhuman, Marisa constantly deals and experiments with various magic, Kosuzu has youma aura around her all day. You can find infinite reasons for it.
What I mean, however, is that i don't think there's a canonical reason for the other (non-Akyuu) humans not aging, maybe ZUN is lazy, or can't show the difference, or he doesn't think it matters unless it's something the characters care about (like Akyuu). Also keeping them visually the same makes them more familiar.
Think about it this way: what would a 40-year old actually look like in ZUN art style? With ZUN art being as abstract as it is, they could probably get up to their 50s or so before it would be visually obvious.
Think about it this way: what would a 40-year old actually look like in ZUN art style? With ZUN art being as abstract as it is, they could probably get up to their 50s or so before it would be visually obvious.
I'm guessing facial wrinkles, greying hair and flat as a board.
Well, my headcanon is that the difference between the Touhou games release dates doesn't represent the amount of days passed in Gensokyou. I mean, one game could be released 2 years later, but it could be describing events that happened just two days later in the in-game universe itself, like a writer can write a second book for 3 years to set a plot that develops just a week after the events of the first one.
She really doesn't. In fact, is there ANY one character that does?
You can't make out anything from the main games because everyone's a titless loli, whilst in the fighting games everyone's got a high school figure. The printworks are drawn in different styles so you can't really rely on them either.
But that aside, humans don't ever mention their age or the passing of time do they? Yukarin must be messing around again.
She looks older now than when she first appeared, so yes, she's the only character whi seems to age in the series.
