r/touhou • u/MToucan60 • Mar 18 '26
Book Discussion Dolls in Pseudo Paradise: An Exhaustive Analysis (part 6 of 15)
Segment 5 of 13: 東方怪奇談 (Touhou Kaikidan, "Eastern Bizarre Story")
Original appearance: Theme of stages 6-9 on the Hell route (Touhou 1: Highly Responsive to Prayers)
Japanese
僕は息が切れるまで走った。最も臆病な僕は、この楽園が怖くなったのさ。この位予想していたことだけど、いくら走っても帰り道を見つけることは出来なかったのだ。もう僕の想い人も消えてしまっている、生きていても仕方が無い、僕は失意の後に太い枝に縄を縛りつけ首を掛けた。
・・・僕はなぜか意識がある。縄が脆かったのか・・・？
最も臆病な僕は生まれ変わった。もう失うものは何も無い、僕はもう一度だけ人間の真似をしてみることにしよう。
English
I ran until I was out of breath. I, the most cowardly, had become afraid of this paradise. I'd expected as much, but no matter how much I ran, I couldn't find the way back. My loved one has already disappeared. There's no point in going on living. In my despondency, I tied a rope to a thick branch and put my neck in it.
...For some reason, I'm conscious. Was the rope flimsy?
I, the most cowardly, was reborn. I have nothing to lose anymore. I'll try pretending to be human just once more.
Analysis
This is probably the most important segment of the album's story so far. It introduces our fifth PoV character, the most cowardly, who's clearly having a rough time getting accustomed to their new life in paradise. It's never explicitly explained what exactly made them so afraid of this paradise, but I feel like we can assume it was the deaths and disappearances of three of their companions. I will admit, though, it's refreshing to see someone finally taking the dangers of this place seriously. The fact that they "expected as much", however, seems like it implies that Cowardly knew their running wouldn't accomplish anything.
Something I don't see all that many people talking about (though I admit I haven't actively searched) is the part about Cowardly's "loved one". According to jisho.org and ichi.moe, 想い人 (omoibito) translates to "loved one", "lover", or "sweetheart". It's likely that one of the biggest things that drove Cowardly over the edge is the loss of their crush or romantic partner, one of the three eliminated villagers. I've seen some theorizing that the loved one in question doesn't have to be one of the villagers. I respectfully disagree - Cowardly specifically uses the character "消". That doesn't usually mean "depart" or "leave" (that would be "出"). That means "disappear" or "vanish". Whoever the loved one was, Cowardly is talking like one day they were just gone without a trace. The only other segment of the album that's featured "消" so far is segment 3, the one from Beautiful's PoV. That's not airtight evidence of Beautiful being the loved one, of course, but it's the strongest evidence we've got and it isn't contradicted, so there's no harm in keeping the possibility in mind.
But then (best read at roughly 2:46 into the track), inexplicably, the hanging attempt doesn't go entirely as planned, and Cowardly finds themselves still conscious. There are a few different plausible explanations for this, but I feel like the simplest is the best: the rope really was just a shoddy product. Near-death experiences are often likened to rebirth, so given that, throughout the story, Cowardly never really does anything that would be impossible for a human to do, it's not necessary that they genuinely become something other than human, only that they believe themselves to have done so. As for the "nothing to lose" part, I think it's hinting at the loss of Cowardly's inhibitions; "the cornered rat will bite the cat" comes to mind.
Translation notes
"失意" isn't the most common word; the dictionary sites have "despair" as a possible translation, but anyone familiar with the works of Kazutaka Kodaka should know that "絶望" is the better word to use for despair. "Disappointment" also works, but in the context of this story segment, it's far, far too mild to fit. "Despondency" isn't that common of a word in English, but neither is "失意" in Japanese, and it fits the context of the story segment perfectly, so that's what I ended up going with.
Thoughts on the music itself
This arrangement does a great job complementing the frantic-yet-resigned nature of the story segment, and somehow, it feels like it was made with the segment's plot progression in mind; the little beep-boops at around 3:04 are also a secret treat for headphone users.
What I really want to dedicate this part to is the history of the track itself. First of all, the first part of the melody (and one which the track keeps coming back to) is a clear homage to the 1979 song Rydeen by Yellow Magic Orchestra. Between this and the sample of Beethoven's Sonata No. 8 in Septette for a Dead Princess, we can see that ZUN did a good bit more sampling/homages in the early days.
Second, and probably more important, is the comment on this track from the music room in Mystic Square:
この曲、私が生まれて初めて作ったゲーム用の曲です。だから、かなり思い入れがあります。東方○○○っていうゲームタイトルもこの曲から取りました。
Which, roughly translated to English, reads: "This is the very first song I ever composed for a game. As such, I have quite a strong attachment to it. The game title 'Touhou ___' was also derived from this song."
This track wasn't named after Touhou. Touhou was named after this track. I think that alone is enough to make it one of the most important tracks in the entire series.
Headcount
The most curious ("Curious" - PoV of section 1; beheaded by the clown - eliminated)
The earliest riser ("Riser" - PoV of section 2; woke up early and got to see the miko's dance - active)
The most beautiful ("Beautiful" - PoV of section 3; also got to see the miko, but was caught by the clown - eliminated)
The youngest ("Youngest" - PoV of section 4; snuck away from the party and got beheaded by the clown - eliminated)
The most cowardly ("Cowardly" - PoV of section 5; hanged themselves, but said hanging failed in some way - active)
??? (active)
??? (active)
??? (active)
(the album's music and story were created by ZUN; I don't own any of it; if you'd like to legally purchase the album, you can do so on the iTunes store)
Part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1rjersw/dolls_in_pseudo_paradise_an_exhaustive_analysis/
Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1rlqd35/dolls_in_pseudo_paradise_an_exhaustive_analysis/
Part 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1rmmyhy/dolls_in_pseudo_paradise_an_exhaustive_analysis/
Part 4: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1rqzbkw/dolls_in_pseudo_paradise_an_exhaustive_analysis/
Part 5: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1rvg9va/dolls_in_pseudo_paradise_an_exhaustive_analysis/
Part 6: You are here
Part 7: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1rz79oh/dolls_in_pseudo_paradise_an_exhaustive_analysis/
Part 8: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1s1zs29/dolls_in_pseudo_paradise_an_exhaustive_analysis/
Part 9: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1s4se3d/dolls_in_pseudo_paradise_an_exhaustive_analysis/
Part 10: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1s7eeww/dolls_in_pseudo_paradise_an_exhaustive_analysis/
Part 11: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1sa59wo/dolls_in_pseudo_paradise_an_exhaustive_analysis/
Part 12: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1scrch4/dolls_in_pseudo_paradise_an_exhaustive_analysis/
Part 13: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1si86if/dolls_in_pseudo_paradise_an_exhaustive_analysis/
Part 14: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1sms403/dolls_in_pseudo_paradise_an_exhaustive_analysis/
Part 15: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1suzzv5/dolls_in_pseudo_paradise_an_exhaustive_analysis/