Myon

Having read my fair share of niche interest/hobbyist manga, including competitive PC overclocking and rakugo, I was nonetheless somewhat perplexed at a Touhou mahjong centric series. Though, considering how frighteningly eclectic and creative Touhou doujin culture is; from all those NND MADs to that fangame where you play as Reisen shooting suppositories up unsuspecting anuses; I shouldn't have been. I don't possess the slightest interest in mahjong, having found Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji the weakest portion in the overall series, but in Gensokyo's setting, it's a surprisingly great combination of nicheness.

While Touhou lore is expansively deep and a real rabbit-hole to get lost in at night, moreso than the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, there's a vagueness around character abilities that understandably doesn't get explored so deeply in most of the official games. Thus, you'll often just have to rely on the official wiki's word for character bios and fandom conjectures based off game dialogue, ZUN's interviews, etc. This lack of definition certainly doesn't tantamount to a flaw, discussions and conjectures around the extent to a character's abilities is enjoyable in any power-system-oriented series. Interesting and amusing conjectures are boundless in the fandom, such as the end result of Rinnosuke's ability to realize the name/purpose of any object faced with Nue's ability to hide the true nature of things, and this series is yet another case of great creative liberties at work.

Besides Youmu/Yuyuko being my favorite Touhou duo the initial reason for gravitation, Hayahiro Ushiro interestingly sets the action-oriented abilities of Gensokyo's residents in a passive, strategic setting without losing the flare of danmaku battles. True to any gambling series, the Hakurei Shrine strictly bans cheating in its mahjong tournament open to all Gensokyo denizens, though cheating isn't cheating if never caught in the act. This restricts the epileptic, showboating display of many character's powers, and instead use them in a new, passive-aggressive manner. In a 4-player battle standard to mahjong, no less, giving rise to some random mash-ups and creative interpretations of character abilities.

Doujin appeal aside, the technical mahjong and battle aspect has its merits. The flow of the matches clearly reflect the psyche of the characters, particularly the struggling, persevering Youmu, and the move explanations are thorough on behalf of her analyses and serious personality. The plot centered around a knock-out tournament, the matches never drag beyond a few chapters and give opportunities for refreshing matches adopting different strategies. Both as a fan-work and a mahjong strategy series, Ushiro excels in both regards, each aspect playing off each other.

Though, what makes this novelty of an interesting combination of two games into an actual narrative is the half-ghost, half-human protagonist. Possessing no ability with mahjong aptitude like Satori's mind-reading or Sanae's broken miracles, Youmu instead relies on pure, technical aptitude and experience. This point in mind, the series will bog you down with relevant mahjong jargon (all graciously and thoroughly explained in the scan team's notes), in addition to the author's creative liberties with character powers. Like most mahjong series, just be aware of how points/scores works, the names of certain tiles/tile combinations and you're set. Though, even if one feels too bogged down by this info, simply reading the flow of the matches is sufficient, as they're largely part of Youmu's development narrative.

One doesn't need any prior grasp on mahjong to read this series, and likewise, non-Touhou fans don't need much lore knowledge. Touhou games are largely episodic and this series isn't even canon, so one can simply treat this as a CGDCT-natured series, especially with Hayahiro Ushiro's amusingly slackened art-style. The power explanations may be perplexing though, and these matches may not be as exciting or interesting if one isn't familiar with the characters. Still, Youmu is Youmu. Fan or not, it's hard not to root for her underdog tale striving for the strongest.

Though the title of strongest has well past been taken already, but I digress.