東方 Piano/Ambient ~ And then there were... [Schwarzwald]
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- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2025
- "...none. A lonely vampire, along with an empty Scarlet Mansion."
Man, it's already that time of the year. I can't believe how fast October went by. I don't know about you folks, but I totally didn't see the month come or end. Pretty crazy how time works sometimes, I'll say. ...Either that, or my notion is time is horrid.
So anyway. I really wanted to do something special for this Halloween, even if I'm not exactly enthusiastic about this event anymore. It's probably a mix of many things, if I had to guess. I don't upload on a daily schedule anymore, both the theme and the circle happen to be favourites of mine... All sorts of different feelings simply gave me the needed burst to do something and do it right. I can proudly say that this the video that I've put the most effort into yet, so I'm definitely satisfied.
My biggest goal with this project was to explain a story through the pictures. I mostly inspired myself based on how Shujiki used to do things, although saying that I did just like how he did would be a vast overestimation. I have no idea if my idea even came out right or not, but at least I tried to make something, I suppose.
It follows the story of Flandre, who becomes free from her room after the door suddenly unlocks itself. Overjoyed, she bursts out of her prison and flies around the entire mansion, rediscovering every corners as humanly possible.
Hours pass, and a thought suddenly crosses the young vampire's mind; "Where is everyone?" She assumed that they were off to the shrine for a party or special occasion, and thus held that thought away.
However, soon hours became days, and days became weeks. The mansion was still empty. Loneliness invaded the young vampire's mind, who wanted contact with someone. "What's the point of being free if there is no one to greet you?" she thought. The hope that everyone will come back still was fresh into her heart, although despair was still closely following.
Once weeks became months, her mind shattered. She went back to the basement, where loneliness was only but usual, and sank into a deep, eternal sleep...
That's about the gist of it. I've put a decent amount of time into the idea, but it's definitely nothing to be taken seriously as a whole. It was simply something to go along such a gloomy track, and I do hope that it did its duty.
Anyhow, with that being said, I wish you all a Happy Halloween, with many candies or any snacks for those who don't fancy such sugary substances!
Take care, ladies and gentlemen.
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Pictures used : bon - danbooru.donmai...
ichiba youichi - danbooru.donmai...
tamae (pixiv40276) - danbooru.donmai...
toutenkou - danbooru.donmai...
danbooru.donmai...
Circle : Schwarzwald
Original theme : Crimson Belvedere
Album : per speculum in aenigmate
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![東方 Jazz/Lounge ~ Daylight Rabbity Cafe [Unity-Gain]](/img/tr.png)
![東方Touhou [Ambient] The Grimoire of Alice](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/gs1j6lGWIM0/mqdefault.jpg)
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Years had passed and Reimu is long gone. This means that Sakuya aged and passed on; whereas Meiling was forgotten and disappeared like most Yōkai.
Patchouli being weak outside probably met her fate in the illusory forest and this made Koakuma leave.
Remila deciding on leaving the mansion, unlocked Flandre's door before she woke up. By the time Remila left the fairy maids did too, leaving Flandre all alone in the mansion.
The mansion all abandoned, Flandre tries to find any signs of life through the forgotten mansion. She decides to wait for months (possibly longer) and nothing came. Not even ⑨, Tengu reporters or even any fairies at all.
Upon realisation Flandre that the her world of Gensokyo is gone; she lost her mind in the process and went for an *eternal slumber*.
Through this write up I was figuring out why no one was coming. Especially the fairies! What I think happened to them was that Yukari was exterminated/died from the latest shrine maiden (not Reimu) and then the balance of Gensokyo broke making the fairies go crazy, turning them into yōkai and then soon the fairies died too. As for the Tengus they lost their homes towards the 4 Onis making them either homeless. Also most of the human village must of been lost through the chaos meaning that the Tengus lost their point to report news (that is why no one came towards the mansion to collect reports).
*TLDR:* Basically Gensokyo went to hell and Flan was oblivious to it. The mansion was empty, Flan went to seek everyone but no one was there. She then went insane from waiting and died.
A month late post though :>
That's actually a solid reasoning that you got there. Most of the pieces fit nicely, so kudos to that.
Although Yukari being exterminated usually wouldn't be valid if one considers the Spellcard Rules setup, the fact that Reimu ended up dying and gave the role of shrine maiden to her successor totally nullifies that. There's nothing that would stop said successor from nullifying the rules and exterminate any Youkai if so she wished.
With the Spellcard Rules out of the way, everything would be thrown into chaos. Youkai would raid the Human Village, killing everything in sight. Wars for domination between the huge powers would then begin, and with Yukari gone, there would be no one to stop it. Every Youkai would try to take the shrine maiden's power as their own, thus raging war after war against the successor.
The inhabitants of the Human Village, now ravaged by war, famine, and destruction, would be forced to change location. Alas, it would be only a matter of time until they all get exterminated, since there's no rules left to protect them, and the sole exterminator still active is busy dealing with the big names.
With no humans left, with no one to fear forgotten entities, Gensokyo as a whole would end up vanishing. The fear of humans keep the Youkai alive, but without anyone to believe in them, their existence would be no more.
And since vampires technically are Youkai to an extent, Flandre's fate wouldn't be any different.
Gensokyo's balance truly is frail, isn't it... That's what makes it so fun to theorize about, though.
'Twas some nice food for thought. Thank you for the comment, and of course, for listening.
Thanks for the detailed reply.
This just comes to show that Gensokyo's system can be really complex and there is still a lot to think/know about.
I'm so late ! But I would dream of a game about a devastated Gensokyo.
The protagonist would explore this empty land, meet dangerous the Yôkais left here.
Meet some characters we know into an absolute different context.
Hi Kaguya, Eirin and Mokou.
And then Flandre would be a playable character.
(Even if it feels strange to me that Remilia would abandon her.)
@@arcaniade Reminds me of a doujin manga I read recently "Flan wants to die" done by Tsukumizu. It had Flan wandering a future Gensokyo not ruined though.
It would make more sense if the game's protagonist was either Mokou or Kaguya (probably both) wandering the ruins of Gensokyo not able to die since most known characters are gone, the game would be in a similar vein as Yume Nikki if its about wandering and encountering -talking to people whose left behind and their take on things like Flan being alone. Plus all the odd Yokai that might be reforming there not in human form.
Playing as Kaguya or Mokou would also mean they wouldn't care about any dangers either.
When suddenly a gap opened in front of her, revealing Remilia and the residents of SDM holding a cake, on top of the cake is written "Happy Birthday".
Bro, I ain't letting my Psycho Loli Vampire being sad.
This is the sounds of loneliness~
Here for this Halloween. Sounds very melancholic. Sleep peacefully Flan
I really like how the pictures go with the story you put together! Nicely done!
I would have liked an 1800s, sepia tone kind of filter on this. The constant film reel sound gives that feeling of found film to me. But, I know you can't do that. :P
That being said, that would have been very interesting story to put in the description, versus the "find that I'm still alone in this house" story that many have already done with her.
Definitely see why this took so long. But at the same time, the pics chosen seem like there's lot's to choose from. Some of which, anything would really work and you can just move on. Now if you tried putting in that style I mentioned above, that would have been a real problem.
Much better upload than the other event vids thus far; so props on that!
Hehe. I agree that an 1800's sepia tone filter would've really made something nice. But alas, you can't expect much from a free program. Got only the basics in that thing.
Well, the main point of the little story was to simply give a little context to go along the track. The song really gave me a feeling of loneliness, so it felt appropriate to do something like that. But I reckon; I could've done better.
Finding pictures that fitted the scenario in my mind definitely wasn't an easy task for me. I take my videos seriously, so anything that goes below what I'm expecting will just continue to bother me until it gets fixed.
Glad to hear it, friend. T'was hard work.
You overestimate me, mon ami. There usually was no story. Most of the time it's me choosing pictures I felt fit the best, timing transitions with music cues, and rearranging images if how they weave together feels off. The rest is handled by human nature, which likes to fill in the blanks. For the few with stories, I probably got inspired by trying to fill in the blanks myself. Writing a description ever so slightly nudges the viewer towards the same perception (it's why I believe it's worthwhile to listen to the upload without influence first) and I think you did well in that regard.
Beautiful video for a beautiful song :)
Exhibit 1: Okay, I see it. A girl next to an open cage, escape, freedom... But the blood changes the symbolism from that to a violent struggle, and signs point to a probable death of the prisoner, maybe even through torture. In this still, the innocent-looking girl is the perpetrator due to her bloody hand and hat that's sliding off. So, cage with an open door: Yes. Basement door opening by itself: No. With this image you're saying the escape was a bloody struggle.
Exhibit 2: A girl is overlooking a wide area. The music supports you with far-away echoes of people no longer here and a hollow wind through the abandoned castle. Grand feeling. Exploring and rediscovering an empty mansion: Yes. Nailed it, even. 'Nuff said.
Exhibit 3: Downcast eyes, down-mouth expression, and a very simple piano melody in the background get your point across nicely. Lonely, sad, despondent, nothing changes, all right. Good. The girl's in the shadowy part of the picture for bonus points.
Exhibit 4: A girl is looking through the window into the rain, to the sky. That's one of the more dramatic moments in your story, perhaps unintentionally, because Flandre fails to realize she's not exactly _free_. She doesn't leave the mansion to go look for everyone. She stays in the bigger cage that is the Scarlet Mansion. A prisoner of her own mind, so to speak.
How does your choice of image hold up? There are good and bad parts. She's still inside the mansion - good. She's looking outside - not good. For your story, you want to show that she fails to even consider going outside. Sitting in a room with an open door and waiting, chains that don't really hold you down if you look closely, Chosen One being trapped by a tiny net and hilariously failing to break free, things like that would get your point across.
P.S. As for music, it gives you a great opportunity to hit the viewers with some terrible revelation from 2:35 to 2:55. That segment is different. Do you feel it?
Exhibit 5: A girl looking sad/sleepy with incredibly long hair in a dusty, dark room. This successfully brings up the notion that she's been here a looooooooong time, which is what you're going for. I'd consider using this picture starting from 2:35 until the end if you wouldn't want to use the 'prisoner of the mind' I pushed for last paragraph.
Overall: Hey, nice try. Practice more stories!
I was eagerly waiting for a comment with valid criticism for this video, considering how most of it was an experimentation. Glad to see that it's from you, too.
I'll try to describe my thought process as best as I can, only because it feels necessary to do so;
Exhibit 1 : I can't say that I thought much about the symbolism of the cage. I just wanted to show a bored girl who was wasting time as she usually did. The blood could've been from a pet bird that she crushed, if we can be a bit gruesome. I definitely see where you're coming from, though.
Exhibit 2&3 : Exactly what I was aiming for in both cases, so good to see that this went as planned.
Exhibit 4 : That's probably the most important scene of the project, actually. My goal was to show Flandre waiting for a long time, glancing at the window in hopes that everyone would someday come back. It wasn't in the interest of going outside per say, but more to faithfully wait, much like a dog would.
You brought an interesting point, though. It's true that there wasn't any reason for her to wait that long in the mansion, nor was there anything stopping her to search for everyone. That's a major flaw that I sadly just realized now, which is rather unfortunate.
Also, the part from 2:35 to 2:35 went just how I wanted it to be; the emotional orchestral shares the exact feeling of loneliness and sadness that I had in mind. The hope that everyone will come back, even if she already knows otherwise.
Exhibit 5 : I don't know about you, but I think that the finale was the best part of this little show. The slow fading shows that despair ultimately won over her, and that she is now prisoner once again, albeit in different terms.
Thank you for such a meaningful comment, Dmirtyi. I needed something like that.
I will definitely practice more upload-stories in the future; it was a lot of fun.
The feels T_T
surrounded by loneliness~~~~
She hanged herself and then there were none.
Let's just replace the hanging part with an eternal sleep in the basement, shall we.
SuperCuccoSaiyan Let's just replace the sleeping part with hanging, shall we.
4 birds with one stone. She wasn't really alone.
Mmmh, I like that reference to the book~